Damak, May 4:

An armed gang looted Rs 7.9 million from the branch office of Laxmi Bank at Damak-13, Jhapa district today.

Damak Area Police office, which is located at a distance of 500 metres from the branch, was informed of the robbery on time, but a police team arrived 30 minutes after the robbery, eyewitnesses said.

Instead of rushing to the looted branch, a police team went to Birat Laxmi Bank at Damak-10 and then to NIC Bank.

“The gang entered the bank at 12:15 pm and decamped with Rs 7.9 million within 15 minutes,” Damak Area Police Office said.

“Seven looters with Mangolian features robbed the bank at gunpoint,” chief of the bank Murari Pudasaini said, adding that the seven locked security guards Devi Dhakal and Parshuram Acharya in the office’s kitchen.

“Wielding weapons, the seven made bank staffers show safes,” Pudasaini said, adding, “They also looted four mobile phone sets from bank staffers.”

“A team of security personnel has been deployed to nab the looters,” deputy superintendent of the Armed Police Force at the Pathivara battalion Gopal Gurung said.

“Preliminary investigation shows that looters are aged between 25 and 35 years,” he said.