Within a week there were two bank robberies. On Wednesday 10 May 7.2 million was taken at gunpoint from Soneri Bank branch near do-minute Chowk in the jurisdiction of Khwaja Ajmer Nagri police station, around 10 O’clock the morning. A few days later, the branch of Bank Alfalah on Mauripur Road was robbed of 3.4 million at around 4 O’clock in the evening. What was the police response? As usual, the police blamed management of the banks and security companies for not meeting the required security standards which led to the unfortunate incidents. In other words, the police told the victims: you take care of your own place, don’t bother us.
Of all places targeted by thieves banks are the most vulnerable. There is ready cash and valuables in the lockers. People visiting banks to cash cheques or deposit funds are also the most vulnerable citizens; neither the bank for the security guards can protect them when thieves fire guns. They can be innocent victims. Note that the two thefts took place when there were a lot of people going in and out of banks. Thieves always choose these times because the screams and fear they generate by their violent actions, like firing a gun shot and breaking glass partitions before the tellers’ booths leads to a chaotic melee with people running for cover. It is always to protect their customers and themselves that bank staff quickly hands over the cash and keys to vaults.
Bank heists have become a major crime in Karachi since 2012. The police compute the rise or decrease in bank robberies statistically. They say, about two dozen banks used to be robbed but with police-Rangers vigilance the crime rate has significantly dropped. The statistics are irrelevant even if two banks only are robbed in a year importance must be given to the human factor, the vulnerability of bank visitors and the staff. Protecting the citizens is the responsibility of the police force. They cannot shirk their duty and claim it is the bank management and security companies who should ensure safety in banks.
The police appear on the scene of the crime after the incident. Their investigation often comes under criticism. For instance, they said the doors of the banks were not closed. How can the entrance door be closed when people have to come in and out of the place? They blamed the security guard of Soneri Bank for putting up any resistance and instead running for cover like everyone else. Security guards are as vulnerable as everyone else in the bank. They wield guns but these are not loaded. Every guard keeps a bullet in a pouch in his belt. Don’t the police know this? In the two heists only one of the robbers was armed, so the police suggested the robbers were not ‘professional’ thieves. Really! May we know how many gunmen make up a professional gang of thieves, in police opinion? And most ridiculous suggestion was that the robbers disappeared on motorbikes through congested lanes so they must be residents of Khwaja Ajmer Nagri and knew the lay of the land. Any sane person could see the robberies were efficiently executed. That is, in minutes the heist was over, and the thieves escaped, which means the heist was well planned down to the final escape route. Only the police would like to imagine the suspects were from the same locality. They could be from any where, even from another city. Is this what is called investigation?
Karachi has a dense Police force. It is argued that they do not have the mental sophistication required to operate, and protect, this metropolis. A bank however is not the local wadera’s cow.
As for the security arrangement, it is an eye-wash. The gun in the hand of the guard is just a useless metal pipe since the bullet is in the guards pouch. Thieves know this (even if the police do not) and therefore attack fearlessly. One bank claimed their security service did not appear even though the alarm button was pressed three times. The thieves did not bother to disarm the alarm system. If the security detail did not arrive in time, quite possibly they were stuck in traffic. Or had to crawl and weave through thick traffic and congested roads. The only way they could have responded immediately if they were right there inside the bank. Only the useless guard was there.
The so-called standard security arrangement is like the Emperor’s new Clothes in the fairytale. It is an imaginary security arrangement which really does not exist in reality. I think Karachi is the only metropolis in the world which lacks true-blue metropolitan police force.
