NEWS

Robbers lose loot while on the lam

Two robbers armed with assault rifles netted 1 million euros in a raid on a branch of National Bank on the island of Alonissos in the Sporades yesterday morning but dropped the loot when a truck hit their getaway bike. The two men, both wearing masks and wielding Kalashnikov rifles, burst into the bank – in the island’s main port of Patitiri – just after 8 a.m. They are believed to have been well prepared as the safe containing the 1 million euros had been open at the time, sources said. Fleeing with the loot on the motorcycle they had parked outside the bank, the robbers were rammed by the driver of a truck who realized they were fugitives and tried to stop them. Dropping the bag of money, the robbers forced a passing motorcyclist to stop, took his bike and fled. They were pursued by police and coast guard officers, on whom they fired with their rifles but caused no injuries. With the authorities in pursuit, the robbers fled to a cove about 10 kilometers from the scene of the crime where they boarded a speedboat moored to a pier and continued their getaway. The coast guard dispatched nine patrol vessels and a helicopter to chase the perpetrators. The empty boat, which, it later transpired, had been stolen on Evia, was found several hours later off the coast of Skopelos. It is believed that the perpetrators boarded another boat dispatched by accomplices to meet them out at sea. Police and coast guard officers on Evia and in the Fthiotida and Magnesia prefectures yesterday remained on standby but there had been no sign of the perpetrators by late last night. According to police, the gunmen are Greek and both around 1.65 meters tall with slight frames.

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