No money robbed from Sonali Bank's Ruma branch: CID

No money was lost in the robbery at the Sonali Bank branch in Bandarban's Ruma, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Bangladesh Police said.

"Two crime scene investigation teams came from Cox's Bazar and collected all the evidence of the bank. I checked all the money in the vault," Additional DIG Shah Newaz Khaled, an official of CID Police Chattogram Range, told reporters in Bandarban today (3 April).

"A total of Tk1.59 crore was kept in the vault here. All the money is still in the vault. The vault could not be broken. It is intact," he said.

Around 8:00pm yesterday (2 April) armed robbers, suspected to be involved with militant outfit Kuki Chin, attacked the Sonali Bank's Ruma branch and kidnapped its manager.

Within 15 hours of that robbery, two branches of Sonali Bank and Krishi Bank were attacked in Thanchi of Bandarban today (3 April), half a day after Sonali Bank's Ruma branch was attacked by armed robbers yesterday.

The robbers looted around Tk2.5 lakh from Krishi Bank's Thanchi branch, its manager Hlaswithwai Marma said.

Whereas, from the Sonali Bank's Thanchi branch, they took Tk15 lakh, its Deputy General Manager Md Osman Ghani said. But he could not say how much money had been looted from the bank's Ruma branch.

The incident took place around 12:30pm, confirmed Thanchi Police Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md Jasim Uddin.