Masked robber steals W4.56m from Pohang bank

An armed robber in a mask and sunglasses got away with 4.56 million won ($4,050) in cash from a bank in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, in broad daylight Tuesday, police said.

According to authorities, the incident took place at 11:48 a.m. Tuesday. Surveillance footage showed a masked man in sunglasses barge into the bank, commit the theft and escape in a car parked nearby in a span of two to three minutes. 

Employees at the local Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives branch said the man climbed on top of a teller’s desk and demanded his bag be filled with cash, threatening them with a knife.

One of the employees alerted the police of the theft by pressing the silent alarm button under the desk. There were no security guards stationed at the bank at the time of the robbery, police said.

Witnesses said the suspect was “tall with a thin frame” and his “face was too covered with a mask to clearly make out.”

Authorities are checking security footage to track his whereabouts.

By Catherine Chung (cec82@heraldcorp.com)