A robber who tried to hold up a bank using a baby doll and a blood pressure pump was in custody on Wednesday after his heist failed, a Pakistani newspaper reported.
The 25-year-old burst into the bank in Karachi on Monday brandishing the doll, which he claimed was a bomb, and the pump, which he said was a hand grenade.
The man, identified only as Jamal, walked into the bank manager’s office, where he silently presented a note demanding 2,5-million rupees ($40 000) to pay kidnappers whom he said were holding his family hostage.
Tahir Khan, the bank manager, told Jamal to wait in his office while he went to get the money from a cashier, the Daily Times reported.
Once outside, Khan called the police, who arrested Jamal at gunpoint and alerted a bomb-disposal team, which discovered the doll was stuffed with harmless wires.
Police investigating Jamal’s claim that his family was being held later concluded he was trying to pay off large gambling debts.
Jamal, who was wearing a school satchel at the time of the attempted robbery, said he had got the idea of a bank robbery from a film, reported the newspaper.
He told police that he had earlier tried to rob the same bank on Saturday, but had been foiled because it was closed. — AFP