Sunil Haleangady
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Dec 5: Five men armed with pistols attempted to rob Muthoottu Mini Finance at Kulai here on Saturday December 5. When their attempt failed, the five escaped from the spot.

It is learnt that two of the five robbers had come to the bank on Friday Decmeber 4 pretending to be customers wanting to know about loans offered by the finance firm, and observed its activities and premises.

On Saturday morning, they came in a white Maruti Omni from Mangaluru side and after parking the vehicle on the other side of the highway in front of Muthoottu Mini Finance, three robbers including the two who had come on the previous day went into the firm, and then the remaning two followed, sources said.

The five then brandished pistols and even as they began threatening the people, the alert manager activated the secret emergency siren. The robbers who grew frightened at this immediately ran away from the spot.

In a hurry to escape, the robbers left behind their footwear. The canine squad that was brought to the spot picked up the scent from the footwear, but could only trace them till the spot where they had parked their car.

Fingerprint experts also arrived at the spot. Police led by Panambur ASP Madan Gaonkar, CCB inspector Valentine D'Souza and Suratkal circle inspector Manjunath also arrived and gathered CCTV images from not only the finance firm but also from other surrounding shops and offices so as to identify the robbers.

Suratkal police are investigating.