TEHRAN – Iran arrested 13
burglars who cut into the vault of Tehran state bank from a neighboring building and stole 168 safe deposit boxes, authorities said on Friday.
Tehran Prosecutor Ali Salehi said that three of the thieves were arrested in a country abroad, which media reports identified as Turkey, while the rest were apprehended in the capital and Iran’s north, official IRNA news agency reported. A car containing stolen property was found abandoned at Imam Khomeini Airport, he added.
“Thirteen suspects in the robbery of Bank Melli were arrested, and large quantities of stolen property have been discovered,” Salehi said, quoted by the judiciary’s Mizan Online news agency.
The fugitives who fled abroad had been detained thanks to “good cooperation” with Interpol and were in the process of being transferred back to the Islamic republic, said Tehran’s police chief, General Hussein Rahimi.
“None of the bank’s employees participated in the robbery,” he told national television, adding the bank had been notified of security weaknesses about a month ago.
National TV showed footages of jewelry, gold coins and bundles of dollar bills laid out on a long table. It also aired footage of those it said had been detained in Iran, dressed in prison outfits and facing a wall.
The thieves also stole surveillance cameras and other monitoring data-x-items from the bank, which was located on a major thoroughfare near Tehran University.
The state-owned lender said thieves had taken advantage of a public holiday on Sunday to break into the branch on Enghelab Street, a major artery in Tehran.
They forced the lock of a rear door and seized the contents of 168 rented safe boxes before escaping the same way, locking the door behind them.
Bank robberies are rare in Iran. If convicted, the suspects face lengthy prison sentences.