Masked robber knocks on door in bid to rob bank

BANK of Cyprus employees were left laughing when a would-be bank robber actually knocked on the bank’s locked door expecting to be allowed in to rob them.

The incident occurred on Monday afternoon at the bank’s Astromeritis village branch in the Nicosia district.

The attempted robber was wearing a hood and holding what looked like a pistol. When he tried to enter the bank, he found the door was locked although the tellers were still inside working. After circling the building for a short while, perhaps looking for a way to get inside the premises, he knocked on the door so that he could enter and rob them. Instead of opening the door, the employees called the police, prompting the thief to make a run for it.

Minutes later, patrol cars arrived on the scene and closed off the area to gather evidence.

The entire incident was recorded on the bank’s closed circuit camera which investigators are now examining.

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.