Bank robbers net NT$16m

In what police said was a meticulously planned operation, two gunmen wearing surgical masks stole NT$16 million from the Tachih branch of the First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) yesterday after tying up the bank's nine employees with plastic straps and evading security cameras in an operation lthat lasted almost an hour.

"The two suspects just took the money and left without harming anybody," said Chen Kuo-an (陳國恩), deputy chief of the Chungshan Precinct. "From the evidence that we have collected from the scene of the crime and the statements from the nine employees, we believe that the two suspects are either former employees of the bank or had observed the bank for quite a while because they knew where the security cameras were, how and when employees came to work and escape routes. It was a well-planned crime."

The daring robbery began at around 7:56am yesterday. The two suspects left with NT$16 million in cash at around 8:52am, only eight minutes before the bank opened for business.

Because of the suspects' knowledge of the locations of the bank's hidden security cameras, the security video system caught no pictures of the two men's faces.

According to the employees' statements, the police said, the two men were both dressed in black. When the first employee arrive at the bank to open the door, one of the suspects pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the employee's head. The suspect ordered the employee into the bank with the second robber, also brandishing a pistol, following close behind.

The first employee was immediately tied up. Other workers, including a security guard, were tied up one-by-one as they arrived to work.

Bank staff told the police that the vault has four locks. The first lock was automatically set to be opened at 8am and closed at 5pm. It cannot be opened before 8am. The keys of the other three locks are the responsibility of three different employees.

Police said that the evidence suggested the two suspects were fully aware of these facts.

"Maybe that was why they spent nearly a whole hour on the robbery," Chen said.

Police suspect a link between yesterday's robbery and a robbery at the Chinatrust Commercial Bank's (中國信託商銀) Chunghsiao Branch on March 14 last year which also involved two armed suspects and unfolded in a similar manner. It also involved the same type of plastic strap used in yesterday's heist.

In the Chinatrust robbery, NT$2.35 million was stolen. The bank offered NT$2 million for information leading to an arrest in that case, but no suspects have yet been apprehended.