Police tell banks to beef up security

PUNE: In the wake of a recent spate of robberies, the Pune police have called upon banks to hand over security to professional agencies.
The appeal was made by additional commissioner of police (crime) Rajendra Sonavane at a meeting with senior bank officials on Thursday.
A list of dos and don''ts regarding bank security was handed over to the officials at the meeting, convened on the backdrop of a revelation by a gang of robbers arrested recently.
The robbers had told the police that they were planning to loot cash of a co-operative bank in Pimpri-Chinchwad while in transit. Alarmed by this, the police carried out a survey of security measures at various banks and found many loopholes in them, especially at co-operative banks. They also found that robbers were well aware of the loopholes and were exploiting them.
Sonavane told TNN, "The most shocking finding of the survey was that many banks, while transferring cash from one branch to another or to other banks, use twowheelers or cars without proper escort. We have told them to use caged vehicles for cash transfer and with proper escort."
It was also found that there are no night watchmen at a number of banks, he said, adding that the police had asked banks to ensure 24-hour security, especially on holidays.