Three held over Rs202m Uthal bank robbery, police say

Police in Balochistan's Lasbela district have arrested three men over the robbery of Rs202 million (20 crore 20 lakh rupees) from a National Bank branch in Uthal, and say five of those involved were current or former students of Lasbela University of Marine Sciences.

SSP Lasbela Najeebullah Pandrani told a press conference in Uthal that the main accused, a student at the university, planned the robbery with his associates, and that the suspects are aged 25 and 26. Two more suspects were arrested on his identification, police said. A court sent the three to jail on judicial remand on Thursday, after police held them for a 14-day physical remand, the SSP said.

The robbery took place on 28 February 2025. According to the FIR registered on the complaint of bank manager Falk Sher, six men arrived at the branch in a vehicle wearing clothing similar to security force uniforms and said they had come to investigate a transaction. When staff resisted, the men struck police constables Nawaz Ali and Muhammad Daud with rifle butts, injuring them, and seized a G3 rifle, the FIR states. They filled six sacks with the cash, loaded them into the vehicle's boot and locked the bank staff in the cash vault before fleeing.

Yar Muhammad, then SHO of Uthal, said he was alerted between 9am and 9.30am and reached the branch after the robbers had left. He followed them towards the RCD highway and then towards Baloch Goth. "When we got close they opened fire. I was hit by two bullets, one in the leg and one near the eye," he said. The SSP said he lost an eye. The robbers fled into the mountains and set their vehicle on fire.

An official attached to the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the vehicle was burned so that fingerprints and other forensic evidence would be destroyed, and that two weapons used in the robbery were burned with it. Police said the uniforms were ordered online from a company in December 2024 rather than stitched locally.

Pandrani said the main accused's bank account broke the case: it carried only small transactions before the robbery, then received crores of rupees. Police traced Rs170 million in transactions through it over the past year and a half. About Rs27.5 million from the robbery passed through a local trader's account, and the trader has admitted this in a statement recorded before a magistrate, the SSP said. Police said more than Rs40 million was spent on vehicles and other goods, some of which have been recovered.

Mobile phones taken from the suspects have been sent to the Punjab Forensic Laboratory. Police said they are still looking for three other suspects and their facilitators. The arrested men could not be reached for comment.