The government has prepared a three-month road map to reinforcement of security system at all state-owned banks to prevent further bank robbery, especially at Sonali Banks as 800 of its branches have been found risky.

A number of officials at the Bank and Financial Institutions Division (BFID) yesterday said these risky branches were housed in rented buildings.

BFID Secretary Dr M Aslam Alam told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that they could not provide security to the risky Sonali Bank branches for the next three months when the road map would be executed.

However, the execution of the road map could not be completed unless the government took policy decisions on three major issues – insurance of the money kept in a branch, purchase of land for banks, and building strong iron vaults, he said.

Rest of the measures, including arrangement of security guards for the Sonali Bank branches, would be implemented on short-term basis, he said.

The BFID secretary also said branch managers of all banks had been asked to enhance social connection with the owners of the buildings that housed their branches and the business entities around and inform the local police of this.

He was speaking to the Dhaka Tribune after a meeting with the CEOs of the eight state-owned banks, including Sonali, Rupali, Janata and Agrani.

The meeting discussed security of bank vault rooms as the government is concerned over the heists at two Sonali Bank branches in Bogra and Kishoreganj through underground tunnels.

Later, Aslam Alam told reporters that the meeting had formed a committee headed by BFID’s Additional Secretary Amalendu Mukherjee for recommending measures to prevent burglary at banks. The committee was asked to submit its recommendations within two months.

Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, a meeting source alleged that lower rank officials of Sonali Bank had not followed the directives of their top brass which had created huge security and fraud risk in the bank’s branches.

At the meeting Rupali Bank Managing Director M Farid Uddin suggested purchasing strong iron vaults from international market. He informed the meeting that he had already bought three iron vaults for his bank.

The source said the meeting had seen a long discussion on the 800 vulnerable branches of Sonali Bank and how security at these branches could be beefed up. A bank official suggested renting the first floor of a building for a branch if necessary and having the bank’s vault in the middle of the floor.

After the meeting, Sonali Bank CEO Pradip Kumar Dutta told reporters that it was not possible to ensure security to its 1,201 branches overnight and that it needed a long time.

He said a total of 25 chest branches of the bank were situated in rented houses and ran the risk of being broken in.

In reply to a question, the BFID secretary said the incumbent Sonali Bank CEO had been performing well in his duties and there had been no big scams like that of Hallmark during the past one and a half years.

The burglary incidents at Sonali Bank branches were due to some long-term problems, Aslam Alam said.

On Saturday, robbers looted Tk30.8 lakh from the Adamdighi branch of Sonali Bank in Bogra by digging a 30 feet tunnel from a nearby furniture shop to the bank’s vault room. In a similar fashion, robbers had looted Tk16.4 crore from the vault room of Sonali Bank’s main branch in Kishoreganj on January 24.

Four Sonali Bank officials suspended

The Sonali Bank authorities yesterday suspended four of its officials following an order from the BFID. The decision had come at a board meeting of the bank, said the BFID Director Zaid Bakht.

“We suspended four officials – the manager, deputy general manager and general manager controller of Adamdighi branch of Sonali Bank in Bogra, and also an official of our Dhaka office who was in charge of supervising that branch,” he said.

In the wake of the latest burglary at Sonali Bank’s Adamdighi branch, the BFID asked the bank’s CEO Pradip Kumar Dutta on Sunday to immediately order the suspensions.