September 17, 2002. BREAKING NEWS. KM always ahead of others.

Mabrook! ROP Arrests bank robber at Oman-UAE Boarder

The Royal Oman Police have caught the main accused in the bank robbery case. The man was nabbed when he was trying to cross the border to the neighbouring Dubai in the UAE. The ROP needs to be praised for the precise manner in which it followed the case and nabbed the culprit who left many loopholes, indicating that it is not a well organised robbery. The mastermind behind the first bank robber in Oman's history had visited the bank one day before the crime also apparently to examine the situation. The police had the vehicle number and even his photograph that made it easy to locate him late night. KM salute the effectiveness of ROP in nabbing culprits within hours after committing the robbery. Mabrook. It is not known whether the money is recovered from him or a second person who was believed to be with the criminal is arrested. (KM Special)

Malayalali Vegetable Vendor stabbed, Robbed of his daily collection

Many small and medium sized Malayali businessmen in the Mawelah Fruits and Vegetable market have been living in fear after one Malayali was stabbed seriously to rob him off his daily collection. The Malayali businessman from Kannur was counting his daily collection when the culprit approached him from behind, stabbed him severely and ran away with the collection of RO 5,000 (equivalent to Indian Rs. 6 lakh). The victim who was undergoing treatment in a city hospital for one week is now back to business in the marke because he he could save his life.

Small time Malayali businessmen in the Mawela market feel that even though some sort of theft is taking place every now and then, they dont bother to make any complaints or run after to get back the stolen items due to a number of reasons. "In many cases we could not get back our stolen items worth not so big amounts. We have to go to various places to lodge complaint. Due to this problem and the lack of time to run after silly issues, many Malayali traders do not bother to make it big issue.

Many small scale businessmen and employees of vegetable shops are living in constant fear of being caught by the Labour Officers. Some of them are living without proper labour card or visa. Those living with labour card are also helpless because the Labour Ministry has stopped issuing new salesman visa. Even those who have valid visa or labour card are facing a difficult situation because some of their documents have been taken by the Labour officers. As the Government has made it mandatory to employ nationals instead of expatriates in fruits and vegetables transportation and marketing, most of the Malayalis working there are likely to lose their job soon. At least two deadlines are over but not many Omanis are coming forward to work in the vegetable market. The Municipality is also collecting fees from the Malayali vegetable vendors.

"Many of us have been caught by the labour officers who are always stationed in the market. They come and catch expatriates who are "illegally" working in the market. Once they are caught by the Labour officials, a middle man, a Bengali will come from the blue and promise to resolve the matter in return for a fee of RO 100 per labour card. If a vegetable vendor can give RO 100 to the Bengali, who is acting on behalf of the Labour Officers, they will not trouble you again. Even the local businessmen who prefer to employ expatriates due to low wages and efficiency. A casual look at the market will reveal that more than 90 per cent of the employees and traders are still expatriates. The robbery in a neighbouring bank is the culmination of small time thefts left unnoticed.

Crackdown on expatriate driven cars carrying school children.

 

NEWS BREAK -Sept 16, 2002 12.45 p.m.

Robbery in the Oman Arab Bank Mawale branch

 

The rear side of the bank through which the culprit escaped with the booty to the main road. The robbed OAB branch is the one with the black name board. On the two sides are the vegetable market with the flag and a restaurant.

An unidentified gunman run away with huge amount of cash from the Mawela branch of Oman Arab Bank after robbing the bank by pointing a gun at the cashier. The robbery which took place around 12.30 p.m. is the first such case reported in the recent history of an Omani bank. The robber came to the bank and took the entire bank staff and a few customers present in the premises at gun point. The bank was closed for customers at around 12 p.m.when the crime took place. There were about six staff in the small branch located near Al Mawela, a few kilometers away from Seeb International Air port here in Muscat.

According to bank insiders, the culprit has run away with an amount not less than RO 10,000 or RO 15,000. (One Rial is equal to 127 Indian rupees). Police is chasing the culprit and is likely to nab the culprit soon. OAB is the local joint venture of Jordan based Arab Bank Plc. It has a wide network of branches and ATMs in different parts of Oman. Within the Sultanate of Oman, OAB has 37 branches/offices. The Bank has also an extensive international reach through nearly 400 branches and associates of Arab Bank Plc spread over 40 countries. However, the bank deals with the financial transactions of large scale vegetable traders whose daily turnover exceeds RO 15000 per day. There are several such clients who deposit their sales amount at the bank by 12 p.m. as there is no other bank branch in the near vicinity.

According to sources, there could have been two members in the gang. One bearing a long beard entered the branch, pulled out a mask and gun/ overpowers the cashier and staff and collected all the money in a bag. Then he escapes through the rear side of the branch, which happened to be facing the main road. Since the bank is for the benefit of customers from the wholesale fruit and vegetable market, the main entrance is towards the market. After collecting the money using the gun wielding drama, the Arab escaped either through the backside door and got inside a car waiting his arrival. A second person is believed to have been keeping the car ready to move as soon as the first man came with the booty.

The recent crime involving a bank or money exchange occured when a van carrying cash from the UAE was robbed by a group holding gun.(keralamonitor.com - September 16, 2002. 12.45 p.m.). The robbers were caught within 24 hours of committing the crime and the police could recover huge amount of money stolen from the van.

Visit Oman Arab Bank Home page

Gunman makes off with RO9,000 in Ma’awaleh daylight robbery

September 17, 2002

By A Staff Reporter (Courtesy --Times of Oman)

MUSCAT — In an unprecedented event, a gun-wielding robber made off with all the available money at a remote branch of a well-known commercial bank here yesterday. The daylight robbery has shocked banking circles here, but banking sources told the Times of Oman that they were optimistic the authorities concerned would soon nab the culprit, who, while making a daring attempt, seemed to have committed glaring mistakes.

The incident occurred at the Ma’awaleh branch of Oman Arab Bank (OAB) yesterday morning. “Around 11.30am a man walked in with a revolver and demanded the available cash (‘bait’ as it is known in banking parlance) from the bank,” a source from OAB told the Times.

The cashier, who was held at gunpoint, handed over the cash at the counter, which was around RO3,000. But the gun-wielding robber, not happy with this amount, forced the bank officials to cough up money from the ATM, too, which was believed to be around RO6,000. “Our estimate is that the amount would be around RO9,000, but all of this will be determined only later,” an OAB source said. But the source was confident that the robber would not go far.

“At least, he will not be able to spend his ill-gotten gain; the cash he robbed is numbered and if he ever uses it, he will be giving himself away,” the source added. Since he had parked his car outside, the bank staff were able to note the car number and pass it to the authorities concerned.

Conflicting reports, however, said the robber also had an accomplice waiting for him in the car. Apparently, upon entering the bank on the premise of meeting the bank manager, the robber suddenly donned a mask and produced a revolver, with which he menacingly made his demands. The gunman sped away in the Izki-Nizwa direction, the sources said.

The sources were unable to determine the nationality of the offender. “This Ma’awaleh branch of OAB is normally frequented by traders and wholesale dealers at the nearby Ma’awaleh vegetable market. As far as we are concerned, it is considered as a ‘small cash office’,” the source said. “Traders, frequent this branch asking the staff to transfer money to their accounts in other countries etc.,” the source said.