REMEMBER WHEN

TWO armed bandits waited for bank staff to arrive at work before tying them up and escaping with a large sum of money.

Police said the bandits were inside the Bank of Queensland branch in Fifth Ave, Palm Beach, when the bank manager and a female employee arrived about 8.30am the previous day.

The manager, a man in his 40s and the woman, 21, who were not named by police, were confronted by a well-dressed man holding a sawn-off shotgun. The man had apparently been waiting at the bank along with another man.

The two bank employees were made to lie face down on the floor and were then bound and gagged with 5cm wide masking tape.

They were told they would be hurt if they moved.

The thieves opened the bank’s vault and filled up a plastic garbage bag with money.

It was not known how the bandits had entered the bank, police said at the time.

Detective Senior Constable Stephen Crockett told the Bulletin: “They escaped with a substantial sum of money and were quite cool about the whole thing.”

Painting contractor Edward Dannan witnessed the men’s escape and said they casually crossed the carpark with the money in green plastic bags before leaving the scene.

“What I noticed was that one guy almost looked as if he was the bank teller because he was fairly well dressed,” he said.

“They were really casual about it and just walked off.

“What really struck me was the two men went over to distinguishable motorcycles.”