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 (
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.
PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUI, TAIPEI TIMES
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 (
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.
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