Bank negligence or skilled robbers?

Romanian banks seem to be an easy target for bank robbers, at least judging by the increasing number of attempted armed robberies.

The latest attack occurred yesterday, at an agency of Piraeus Bank in Bucharest, where a man armed with a knife successfully ran away with 3,100 Euros and 5,100 lei, after threatening the female cashier. It only took the thief 40 seconds to make his getaway, while the intervention team took four minutes to arrive at the location.

The bank does not have a contract with any security company, but it does have video surveillance and is connected to the dispatch of a private security company.

The fact that the Police has yet to solve the previous cases of armed robbery of exchange houses or banks seems to encourage robbers, who settle for a few thousands of Euros.

However, so far no one is willing to discuss whether these robberies are the work of organized crime, or simply the acts of people pushed to desperation by the crisis.

The first armed robbery of a bank for 2010, happened on January 18th, at a Bancpost branch in the city of Galaţi. A man wearing a hood entered the premises, threatened the cashier with a gun and stole 8,000 lei and 1,200 Euros.

The biggest robbery of 2009 happened in Cluj, at a branch of Banca Transilvania, where the robbers got away with the equivalent in lei of 70,000 Euros, but the money was insured.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, a man in Iaşi was happy to get away with just 300 lei after robbing a pawnshop. The man threatened the administrator with a gas powered gun and asked for all the money found in the cash register. Even though he was afraid, the administrator pushed the panic button the moment the robber went further and asked for all the gold items in the pawnshop. To avoid getting caught, the man settled for the 300 lei which were found in the cash register and disappeared.

The absence of video cameras and of guards can encourage robberies, as the Police is unable to sanction the banks for neglecting to provide these security measures, as long as the money is insured.