All over in 60 secs: bank staff foil con job

BANGALORE: It was 11 am and just another business day at the State Bank of India branch in bustling Lalbagh area. The staff of this comparatively small branch were busy catering to a small spurt in customers. But what was about to unfold was not just an in-the-face dacoity attempt, but a smooth professional effort to con the entire bank!
A gang of nine members entered the bank at intervals, and kept the staff and customers engaged, while one of them tried to loot the cash.But the alert cashier saved the bank of Rs 16 lakh. All this has been captured on the bank’s CCTV network. The gang member was nabbed in the nick of time.
Successful with looting individuals with ‘attention diversion’ tactics outside banks, this gang may have got ambitious and decided to try and divert the attention of the bank staff too.
DIVERSION DRAMA
The drama unfolded on June 9 at the SBI branch, as captured on the seven CCTV cameras installed around the bank. The concerted effort is clear. The ground floor of the bank houses the cashier and other counters, while the manager’s cabin is on the mezzanine floor.
Around 11 am, several people slowly enter the bank separately; their behaviour is completely normal. At 11.30 am, the cashier is seen attending to a customer, who asks her something, and signals that he can’t hear properly. The cashier gets up to talk more clearly.
At this instant, a person calmly walks behind the cashier and while she is busy talking, starts taking money kept behind her in the counter. But suddenly, she hears a movement behind her and turns back to see a person taking money kept in a tray.
The cashier raises an alarm and though the man tries to escape, he is locked while dodging through the maze of cabins.
He was later handed over to the police.
CCTV footage shows how the thief went to the cashier’s counter, while the other gang members kept the remaining bank personnel engaged with their queries. These members swiftly vacated the bank when the plan backfired.
Later, the police who studied the footage stated that there were nearly nine people involved in the attempt. The whole group had orchestrated the daring attempt but failed at the last moment.
The person who was caught has been identified as a member from a Trichy gang from Tamil Nadu, which specialises in ‘attention diversion’ cases.
Police say this is not a common case as it requires professionals. In the past month, this was the second such attempt. In the first incident at Malleshwaram, the thieves had been successful.