Manhunt on after robbery at StanChart branch in Holland Village
According to witnesses, the police set up the cordon outside Standard Chartered bank in Holland Village around noon. Photo: Koh Mui Fong/TODAY
SINGAPORE — A bank robber who hit a Standard Chartered (StanChart) branch at Holland Village and made off with around S$30,000 in cash on Thursday (July 7) is being hunted by the police.
In the first successful heist here in more than a decade, the Caucasian suspect went up to a female teller at around 11.25am and slipped her a piece of paper, demanding an unknown sum of money. How he threatened the teller, who is under the age of 30, is unclear, but the suspect did not brandish a weapon, TODAY understands.
Once the employee complied, the suspect bolted, fleeing on foot in the direction of Chip Bee Gardens, which is directly opposite the bank.
Another bank employee quickly called in the police, which sent at least 10 vehicles and dozens of officers — including from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) — who spent more than five hours combing the surroundings. At one point, officers spent some time peering into a rubbish bin that was within the large area they had cordoned off in front of the bank but it was unknown what they were looking for.
A Mediacorp hotline caller who was in Holland Village around the time of the robbery said he was stopped by officers who asked if he had seen a Caucasian man wearing a cap.
It is unclear how many people were in the branch when the robber struck but police said no one was hurt. In response to queries, a StanChart spokesperson said it closed the branch after the robbery and is working closely with the police on investigations, but will not be able to provide further details.
Photo: Laura Philomin
The brazen heist in the crowded area, which has several banks on that stretch, drew large crowds of onlookers, some of whom expressed shock that the suspect had scant regard that he could be caught on the large number of CCTV cameras there. Besides at the bank branches, there are also several CCTV cameras at the exit of Holland Village MRT Station.
Ms Yolande Dick, a teacher who has lived in the Holland area for 16 years, had wanted withdraw money before going for a trip, only to be told by police officers that the bank branch was closed.
“I’ve lived here a long time and I’ve never come across this before. I was planning to come down earlier so if I had been there, who knows what the circumstances may have been,” said the 47-year-old.
Ms Denise Richter, a part-time waitress at PARK Cafe adjacent to the bank, said she did not hear or notice anything out of the ordinary until the police started arriving at about 11.50am. She said officers split up into groups within minutes, some of whom headed to the Chip Bee Gardens estate.
Ms Richter added that the police had asked for mobile or CCTV footage that captured the bank’s entrance but the cafe did not have any.
Security officer Mr Benny Bek, who works at the Raffles Medical Centre across the road, said he saw five or six police cars swarming around the area.
By around 5pm, CID officers packed up and took down the police cordon. But it was nearly three hours later before the last of the StanChart employees left the branch. None of them wanted to comment, when approached by TODAY.
Bank robberies are rare in Singapore, with the last sensational attempt happening in November 2004, sandwiched by two successful heists. A 43-year-old man tried to rob a Maybank branch in Bukit Timah with a plastic toy gun and ended up being shot twice — in the head and right shoulder — by a Cisco officer.
In October that year, a knife-wielding man made off with S$10,000 from a Hong Leong Finance branch in Joo Chiat. In December, a man threatened employees at a POSB branch in West Coast into handing over S$37,000.
