KATHMANDU: Alarmed by the January 3 broad daylight robbery in Gothatar and a bloody shoot-out, which left ASI Ratna Bahadur Thapa fatally injured, Nepal Police has come up with a new strategy to tackle crime in the Kathmandu Valley.

In one of the biggest heists on January 23, an armed gang whisked away Rs 1.7 million from the Sahakali Saving and Credit Co-operatives in Gothatar VDC in Bhaktapur. The robbers also snatched a pistol from Bhaktapur ASI Ratna Bahadur Thapa. A fierce clash that ensued between the robbers and the police had left Thapa and police constable Deepak GC, fatally injured.

After hours of clashes with the robbers, the police had, however, managed to nab two robbers - Raju Gurung (28), hailing from Nirmalbasti of Parsa and Ramesh Lala (22) from Beltar of Udayapur- with the looted cash, including Rs 7,340, US$200 and 940 Euro.

The police also impounded two motorcycles, two set of cell phones, two pistols and some cartridges.

"January 3 incident was a wake-up call to the police. Bearing that in mind, we have come up with better security arrangements to deal with such hi-tech crime,” DIG Bigyan Raj Sharma, spokesperson, NP told the media persons today.

“The police will continue to observe zero-tolerance against perpetrators of crime," he said.

Police said the remnants of criminal racket are getting switched to solitary areas and outskirts of the capital in the wake of tough security measures.

“The Gothatar robbery has made us to rise above traditional security measures," DIG Sharma said, adding, "The cops who will now fan out in the street, and lay an ambush to the criminal gangs, will have elite security backup beyond the sight of suspects. This will make criminals hard to flee the scene," he added.

Meanwhile, the government has beefed up round-the-clock security checking and poured plain-clothed security forces elsewhere to get updated with the alleged plots and foil any untoward incidents.