Bahrain’s financial officials have pledged to step up security measures in banks across the country after a robber made off with 65,000 dinars ($172,803) from the Bahraini Saudi Bank branch in Muharraq on Thursday evening. The robber entered the bank at around 5.55 p.m., five minutes before closing time, and threatened the female branch manager and a male employee with a knife. He tied up the male employee and forced the woman to lock the door before he opened the safe, took the money and got away in the woman’s black Dodge car. Sources said the robber was wearing a white thobe and had blackened his face. He was described as being of medium built, fair, with a thin beard, and speaking in a Shami (Eastern Mediterranean Arabic) accent.
Police units were deployed to various road intersections in Muharraq and other parts of the country to locate the stolen car. It was eventually found near a hotel in Manama. Governor of the Bahrain Monetary Agency Sheikh Ahmed ibn Mohammed Al-Khalifa, who visited the bank, said a meeting would be held with top bank executives to review security standards. |