Police say five masked criminals forced their entry the other day into the Eriyal branch of the Kudlu service cooperative branch in Kerala and decamped with 20 kg of gold ornaments worth Rs 5 crore and about Rs 13 lakh in cash, reports Hindu.
Police sources say the bank had no security systems such as CCTVs in place. The robbers snatched the gold chain of one of the employees, locked the three women inside the bank, and left, the police said.
Senior police officers rushed to the bank, from which 7 kg of gold ornaments had been looted in 2001. The police had managed to recover 6.5 kg of it and arrested six people who are still undergoing jail terms.
The police have launched manhunt for the burglars, all said to be youngsters, and have expanded their probe to the neighboring Karnataka.
