Bank robber probably bought knife from shop next door

A MAN who robbed a Limassol bank on Wednesday probably bought the knife used in the raid from a neighbouring shop two days earlier, police said yesterday.

The robber, who wore a wig and fake beard, entered the Amathus Avenue branch of Alpha Bank just before 9am, wielding a diver’s knife with a serrated blade.

There were no customers in the branch at that time.

He held the cashiers at knifepoint and demanded, in perfect English, for the vault to be opened.

The man tied the employees’ hands with thick plastic cable ties, and proceeded to empty the contents of the vault into a grey travel bag he was carrying.

He fled the scene on foot, police said.

According to a description given by the cashier, the man was around 30 years old, of medium build, and 1.80m tall.

Police said the man wore surgical gloves, a dark grey hat, black sunglasses, a blue shirt and black tracksuit bottoms with a white stripe and poppers.

The owner of an adjacent shop said a man in his 30s had bought a knife and hat from him two days before the robbery.

Yesterday, Limassol Police Director Charalambos Koulendis told the Cyprus Mail police thought it was probably the same man.

“There are no clues regarding his identity. We are looking for the man who bought the knife and hat, which were the same the robber had.

“We are looking in every direction.

“We suspect it was probably a foreigner, but we do not rule out the possibility of him being a local and trying to mislead us,” Koulendis said.

“What worries us is that most banks have no protection at all,” he added.

The shop owner described the man as having a red, possibly sunburned face, and short brown hair.

The suspect’s palms had burn scars, while his hands had marks, thought to have been caused by manual labour, police said.

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