Film-style, midday heist at largest Arab bank nets Dh5.8 million

Masked thieves armed with machine guns stole nearly SR6 million (Dh5.8 million) from the largest Arab bank in Saudi Arabia in a daring movie-style midday robbery, a newspaper in the Gulf Kingdom reported on Sunday.

The three unknown men waited for workers to get out of the money van to supply the cash machine at Al Rajhi Bank in the central town of Kharj before swopping on them with their weapons, Sabq said, quoting acting town governor Musaed Al Salim.

He said the thieves, one wearing Pakistani dress, forced the three workers to hand them two full bags before jumping into their Lexus car and fleeing the place.

“We are questioning two workers as we believe they were negligent. We are also suspicious as to why they had let the third worker to get out of the car and come with them as this created a security gap,” he said.

At the end of 2012, Al Rajhi was the largest Arab bank by market capitalisation, which stood at around $25.9 billion.