Thieves broke into the Taipei First Credit Cooperative's Tachiao Branch and stole NT$16 million last weekend while typhoon Sinlaku was passing over Taiwan, bank officials said yesterday.
Bank employees reported the theft to the police when arrived at work yesterday morning. The bank was closed on Thursday and Friday because of the typhoon.
The Tatung Precinct police are currently investigating the case. According to the precinct, the bank is a four-story building sandwiched between another four-story building and a building that had been abandoned for nearly 10 years but which has been purchased by the bank.
Both the vault and the offices are on the second floor of the bank. The third and fourth floors contain storage rooms. The police said that the thieves entered the abandoned building, and broke into the bank from the roof with drills, after making a hole 30cm long and 25cm wide on the third floor to enter the bank's vault on the second floor.
Tatung Precinct Deputy Chief Lin Kun-huang (林昆煌) said the police think that there were probably more than two thieves and they must be very familiar with the bank because they didn't trigger the security system when they broke in. Also, they took away the tapes of the bank's close-circuit security television system.
"These guys are either pros or very familiar with the bank. The good news is, we've collected a few fingerprints and footprints," Lin said.
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