KARACHI, Nov 14: Five armed robbers entered a bank branch in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, relieved the lone security guard of his weapon, held the staff hostage at gunpoint and took away Rs3.6 million on Wednesday morning, police said.

This was the year’s 20th bank heist in the city.

Earlier on Oct 15, a private security guard was killed in a bank heist of Rs3.6 million within the remit of the Gulistan-i-Jauhar police station.

Just a month after that robbery, five robbers came to the Gulistan-i-Jauhar branch of the National Bank of Pakistan, situated within the remit of the Sharea Faisal police station.

All of them were armed with pistols, the police said. They disarmed the security guard and took the bank staff hostage at gunpoint, the officials added.

While two of the robbers took up positions at the entrance, the other three went to the cash counter and collected Rs3.6 million in a bag, said an officer of the Sharea Faisal police station.

They did not go towards the strong room and fled after collecting cash from the counter, he added.

The police quoted the bank staff as saying that all the five robbers were wearing shalwar kameez.

Special Investigation Unit SSP Farooq Awan said that the NBP branch did not have any CCTV cameras installed on the premises.

In the absence of footage of the robbery, it would be difficult to identify the bandits with the help of previous heists footage only, he added.