Thieves dig 10-foot-long tunnel and steal gold worth over £100,000

In an incident that reminds you of a scene straight out of a film, thieves dug a 10-foot tunnel to carry out a robbery at a bank in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The theft took place at the State Bank of India's branch in Kanpur last week.

The thieves managed to break into the bank's strongroom after digging a tunnel that was four feet wide. It was dug from a vacant plot next to the bank's safe. The thieves managed to steal gold worth over £100,000.

According to local media reports, they disabled the alarm system, turned the only CCTV camera in another direction, and opened the bank vault using a gas cutter.

The police have launched an investigation into the matter and believe that a bank insider could have been involved in the crime. They did not touch the cash that was in another locker, per a report in the Hindustan Times.

"It could be an insider's job who executed the crime with the help of expert criminals. We have found some leads, including fingerprints from the strongroom, that might help crack the heist," Vijay Dhull, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West), told Business Today.

The gold belonged to 29 people who had secured loans from the bank using the gold. Preliminary investigation suggests that the thieves must have done reconnaissance of the area before carrying out the theft.

"It may have taken days to make such a tunnel. We suspect an insider passed off key information to the burglars to strike with such precision," said Commissioner of police, Kanpur BP Jogdand.

"The CCTV footage is being examined and several teams have been formed to solve this case," he said.

The robbery came to light last week, on Friday, when the bank employees found the strongroom and the gold chest open. A case has been registered under Section 379 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code in the matter.

In a similar incident report from Kanpur in 1997, burglars broke into SBI's Govind Nagar branch after digging a 60-metre-long tunnel.