Three arrested after $800m bank heist in India
Earlier this week, 70m rupees were stolen in broad daylight by a gang pretending to be bank officials
Police have arrested three after a heist that saw 70m rupees ($800,000) stolen from an ATM cash van in southern India.
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Police claim to have cracked the case on the robbery, in which armed men posed as central bank officials in order to steal around £600,000 from an ATM cash van of the southern city of Bengaluru.
On Saturday, November 22, police said they had recovered 57.6m rupees of the money, which had been stolen in broad daylight three days prior.
"Our investigation is on track to get the remaining amount," Bengaluru police commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh told reporters.
Taking place in the Lalbagh area of Bengaluru, the thieves pretended to be officers of the Reserve Bank of India and stopped the transport vehicle, saying they had to check the paperwork.
The vehicle's cash custodian and two security guards were instructed to get into an SUV, and one of the gang members took control of the van, according to police.
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As part of the operation, the gang had changed vehicles, used fake registration plates and selected locations with minimal CCTV coverage to transfer the boxes of cash.
Police confirmed that three suspects had been detained, but that they are still looking "for two to three more".
The three arrested have been named as Gopal Prasad, an employee of cash transport company CMS, J Xavier, a former CMS worker, and Annappa Naik, a local police constable.
The robbery saw a massive hunt was launched on Wednesday, with more than 200 police officers deployed across neighbouring states.
Detectives are also investigating the role of CMS, Singh said, saying the vans should not routinely follow the time routes "so as to become predictable".