Some 700 branches of 55 banks in Chittagong, including government and private ones, went into a tizzy yesterday following two successive robberies at a couple of banks in the port city.
Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) has convened a meeting at the CMP conference room today against the backdrop of the bank robberies. The top brass of the CMP will hold the meeting with senior officials of the banks to discuss ways and means to enhance security at the banks in the city. While talking to The Independent, senior officials of some banks expressed grave concern over the robberies. The bankers said the Bangladesh Bank (BB) officially issued directives to all banks of the city to ramp up security inside the banks and on their premises.
“We have panicked over the successive robberies in the banks. The central bank has already officially directed us to beef up security in the bank. In accordance with the directive of Bangladesh Bank, we have already beefed up our security to ensure that no untoward incident takes place,” said Delwar Hossain, an officer of Jamuna Bank’s Jubilee Road branch.
“We have adopted measures to increase the number of CCTV cameras at the vaults. We have also increased the number of armed security personnel in and around the bank,” added Delwar Hossain.
“We have been asked by the central bank to beef up security by installing more CCTV cameras that can preserve footage up to one year in and around the bank. Bangladesh Bank has also asked to enhance the capacity of the CCTV cameras so that more area can be covered,” said Jahangir Alam, manager of Bank Asia (Khatunganj branch).
“We have taken steps to ramp up security by increasing the number of armed security personnel to three or four as most of the robberies have occurred on holidays,” added Alam, who is also the first vice president of Bank Asia.
Meanwhile, Sammilita Banker Oikya Parishad, a platform of the bankers, formed a human chain on the Chittagong Press Club premises to protest the killings of bank officials and employees. During the protest programme, the bankers also demanded exemplary punishment for the people involved in the robberies and greater security at the banks.]
Md Masrur Hossain, president of Sammilita Banker Oikya Parishad, said they were very much concerned over the rampant robberies at banks.
“Nowadays, meritorious persons are choosing banking as their profession.
However, no one will opt for the profession if bank officials and employees are killed by robbers,” added Masrur, who is also an assistant manager of BASIC Bank (Pahartali branch).
“We are passing through a nightmare phase as a result of the robberies in the banking sector. This will adversely impact the overall economic activities of the country if such a situation persists,” said Syed Amir Hossain, general secretary of Sammilita Banker Oikya Parishad.
CMP commissioner Abdul Jalil Mondal told The Independent that they have taken special measures to ensure security for some 700 branches of 55 banks, both government and private, in the city. “We have also asked the banks to beef up their own security measures to preclude any unexpected incident,” said Mandal, adding that all the important points of the city have been brought under the monitoring of closed circuit TV (CCTV) cameras.
“We are trying to identify and nab the people involved in the robberies in the city, based on the CCTV camera footage of the banks,” added the commissioner.

News:The Independent/11-May-2015