Armed robbers in bank raid drama

TWO men wielding a sawn off shotgun and a knife held up the Laiki Bank on Makarios Avenue in Chlorakas outside Paphos yesterday, making away with €40,000.

At 9.30am the robbers entered the bank wearing tracksuits and crash helmets, threatening staff with the gun and a knife.

A total of six bank staff were working at the time, and there were also two customers inside the premises. One of the men pointed the gun at a customer and, in Greek, told everyone to get onto the floor. They indicated that staff should hand over the cash.

The two bank tellers handed over the money and the men ran out of the bank. They jumped onto a powerful motorbike to make their escape.

Soon afterwards, police found the abandoned motorbike close to the scene of the robbery, along with a €100 note on the ground. Police are continuing an intensive search for the men.

The same bank was targeted in a failed robbery earlier this month. The raiders fled when they spotted a municipal worker wearing a reflective jacket, thinking he was police.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.