Beijing, Nov 28 (IANS/EFE): A Chinese youth tried to rob a bank with a knife in southern China, but ended up entangled in bureaucratic procedures!

The bank cashier first made the youth stand in the queue and then rejected his knife-point "petition" for cash, citing insufficient funds, China's South TV channel reported Friday.

The incident occurred Thursday in Heyuan, in Canton province, when a man armed with a kitchen knife entered a bank and shouted, "This is a holdup", at one of the cashiers who was behind a protective glass screen.

The unfazed employee forced him to stand in the queue, without the police or the security guards intervening, according to the video footage captured by the security cameras which was later aired on television.

The cashier then attended to two people who were in the queue ahead of the knife-wielding youth.

When the robber's turn came, he demanded 10,000 yuan (some $1,600) and was refused by the bank staff, who replied that there was only one yuan in his account.

The man unsuccessfully tried to break the glass screen with his knife and then walked out of the bank dejected, only to be nabbed by police shortly afterwards.

It was not the first attempt at bank robbery in China.

Recently in Shanghai, a man tried to rob a bank with a knife, while simultaneously speaking on the phone, evoking loud guffaws from the “threatened” cashier.

Seconds later, the armed attacker was taken down by the security guards.