Itanagar: A breakthrough was made in the robbery of Rs 28 lakh from the Ganga branch of Arunachal Pradesh Rural Bank on December 5 last with the arrest of the prime accused and another person.
A police team acting on a tip-off arrested one Tapo Marde, a native of Marde village in Upper Subansiri district on December 18 last and during the course of interrogation he admitted his direct involvement in the case with two other accomplices namely, Gichik Tasung and Lingdum Kon, Capital SP Seiju P Kuruvilla said in a statement on Saturday.
“The arrested accused also informed that the entire operation of the bank robbery was the handiwork of one Hiba Tajuk, who hatched the conspiracy with them, and also provided small firearm for its execution,” the SP said.
On the basis of his confessional statement, Hiba Tajuk of Lorputung village near here was arrested on December 19 and Rs 6,43,000 was recovered from his possession, Kuruvilla said.
Hiba Tajuk was earlier arrested for his involvement in Axis Bank robbery case of Naharlagun and was out on bail.
A manhunt was on to nab Gichik Tasung and Lingdum Kon, the SP said.
The bank robbery occurred on December 5 last when two of three armed youths entered the branch leaving one of them at the entrance gate as guard.
They overpowered all the bank officials and staff at gunpoint and forced the assistant manager and cashier to open the chest with which they decamped.
Bundles of currency notes worth Rs 8 lakh got strewn on the road as the robbers were escaping in haste, which were recovered by the bank staff later.
Incidents of bank loot have increased in the state capital since November last year.
In a daring daylight robbery, armed miscreants on Friday robbed 66 lakh from a SBI ATM at Nirjuli area near here.
Three motorcycle-borne youths overpowered the security guards of the bank who had gone to deposit cash in the ATM located on the campus of the North East Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST) at around 1 pm and fled with the cash, Capital SP S P Kuruvilla said.
An alert was sounded immediately throughout the state capital and at all check gates, the SP said, adding a massive manhunt was launched to nab the robbers.
However, no arrest has been made so far, he said.
This is the second incident of robbery within the month after three armed youths looted Rs 28 lakh from the Ganga branch of Arunachal Pradesh Rural Bank here on December 5.
Last year in November, miscreants had looted Rs 30 lakh from the same branch, followed by Rs 18 lakh from a private sector bank in December last. (PTI)
