An unidentified individual snatched a bag containing roughly Rs. 30.5 million in cash and fled from a state bank branch in Horana on Wednesday afternoon, Sri Lanka Police said.
According to Ada Derana, the incident took place at about 2:55 p.m. as a bank employee was carrying two bags of cash through the bank’s back door while the money was being prepared for loading into an Automated Teller Machine. The suspect approached the employee on foot, grabbed one of the bags and fled the area. The identity of the suspect has not been confirmed, and police have launched a further investigation.
NewsFirst, citing Police Spokesman SSP F.U. Wootler, put the missing sum at around Rs. 35 million and said the cash was being moved between two separate branches when the suspect intercepted the staffer and grabbed both bags. The two accounts diverge on the exact amount, the time and whether one or two bags were taken; Ada Derana’s later wire carries the police statement and the Rs. 30.5 million figure on a single-bag snatch.
The brazen daylight robbery — at the back entrance of a state bank, in plain view of staff — is one of the largest cash snatchings reported in the country this year. There has been no immediate word on whether ATM cash deliveries at branches in the area would be temporarily suspended or rerouted. Police are reviewing CCTV footage and pursuing the suspect.
Sources: Ada Derana, NewsFirst, Newswire.
