Small town bank robbed
May 25, 2006
Three gunmen yesterday robbed the small National Commercial Bank (NCB) branch in Spaldings, Clarendon, of just under a million dollars and took away a security guard's Taurus .38 revolver before escaping in a waiting car.
The robbery, which took place shortly after the bank opened in the quiet mid-island town, proved quite an ordeal for the staff who had to receive counselling.
"We are being counselled at this time by a medical practitioner because the staff is traumatised from the ordeal we experienced this morning, so we are unable to give you any information," a teller who peered through the bank's narrow front door on Main Street told the Observer.
The small branch has six staff members and is housed on the lower floor of a two-storey shopping complex.
A notice on the door said the bank would be closed for the remainder of the day and directed customers to transact business at the Christiana branch, some five miles away.
One person claiming to be an eyewitness said that at about 9:15 am, shortly after the bank opened for business, three men entered. One joined the customer line while the others sat, pretending to watch the television in the hall.
According to the eyewitness, when the man who had joined the line got to the cashier, his two cronies pulled guns and announced: "This is a hold-up. No one move"....
Author: T K Whyte
Source: Jamaica Observer
