Armed robbers loot gold worth Rs 13 crore from Ludhiana gold-loan firm

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 17

In a daring day-light robbery right in the heart of Ludhiana, armed assailants looted 30 kg of gold from the office of a financial services company on Monday.

Police said the five armed robbers entered the Gill Road branch of India Infoline Finance Limited (IIFL) at around 11 am and fled with the gold consignment worth Rs 13 crore.

Senior police officials, including police commissioner Rakesh Aggarwal, rushed to the spot even as a hunt has been launched for the assailants.

Police sources said while four assailants barged into the branch, another waited in the car outside.

Eyewitnesses said while two masked robbers directed the company staff to hand over the keys to the safe in which the gold consignment was kept, the remaining two held the other staffers captive at gunpoint.

Initial reports stated that there was no customer there at the time of the incident. The robbers took half an hour to commit the crime and fled away in the waiting car, officials said.

CCTV has captured the incident and police are investigating the feed.

This is the second major robbery incident in the city in the past 20 days. On January 29, four armed assailants had looted 2 kg gold jewellery worth around Rs 80 lakh from VK Jewellers. The crime still remains untraced.