KNF Suspected As robbers Loot Sonali Bank In Bandarban

Newly armed group Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF) attacked a branch of Sonali Bank in Bandarban's Ruma upazila tonight, looting cash and firearms. They also took the bank manager Nizam Uddin as a hostage. It is reported that more than 100 men took part in the attack around 9pm on Tuesday. At least 20 people, including officials and security personnel, were assaulted.

A witness said that at about 8:00pm on Tuesday, a group of KNF men on motorcycles arrived in the Hathimatha Para area of the upazila. One group went to the bank, while another group split off and went to the mosque and the upazila officer’s quarters. They broke into the bank vault and looted the cash. Bank officials believe that Tk 1.5 to Tk 2 crore was looted.

The witness, who requested anonymity, said that the terrorists looted 14 weapons from the Ansar members guarding the bank and abducted Nizam Uddin, the manager of Ruma Upazila branch of Sonali Bank, from the mosque during Taraweeh prayers. They also entered the officers’ quarters in front of the bank and took hostage the upazila engineer, Md Saiful Islam, and took away the money kept for various works.

Ruma Police Station officer-in-charge Muhammad Shahjahan said that the ‘hilltop-based armed terrorists’ looted the bank’s money and weapons and abducted the bank manager. He said that he was at the scene of the incident and members of the law enforcement forces and the army were present in the area.

Confirming the incident, Sonali Bank Bandarban district branch manager Rajan Kanti Das said that he was informed of the incident but had not yet been able to contact the bank manager. Citing the injured, Ruma Upazila administration’s acting UNO Mohammad Didarul Alam said the attackers were KNF members and they took away 10 guns.

But Didarul could not confirm how much money was looted from the state-run bank’s vault.

Meanwhile eyewitness traders of Ruma market said that around 8.45 pm, 60-70 bandits entered the mosque of the Upazila administration complex and closed the door. Many officials were there for prayers. The bandits beat them up by abducting them all. They took the bank manager hostage to the bank at gunpoint and made the bank employees open the vault and stole cash.'

They also assaulted and disarmed 10 police personnel and four Ansar members and snatched their guns and bullets. The KNF terrorists also beat up the devotees in the mosque and took away their mobile phones. They left the area half an hour later, taking Nizam Uddin with them.

Police cordoned off the area after the incident.

It is reported from the media that before the law enforcers surrounded the site, said around Tk 20 million came to the bank in the morning for payment of government and private employees ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr and Baisabi.

After the incident, panic has spread among the government officials and employees working in the Upazila Parishad area.

Didarul Alam also said that security has been strengthened there after this incident. Army and police are now patrolling there.