BANK ROBBERS

Hokitika Guardian, 18 August 1926, Page 3

BANK ROBBERS

ITALIANS IN SIDNEY. CLEVER DETECTIVE WORK. SYDNEY, Aug. o. Olio of tho greatest coups brought off by tlie Sydney po.ico for many years was effected early last Sunday morning, when detectives arrested three men in a room over the Castiercagh street branch ot the Union Bank, and later took into custody four other men. All the men were Italians. In the Bank •immediately below the room was a strong-rooin containing nearly £10,001), and when captured the men are alleged to have been cutting their way through the floor. They aio said to have had in their possession a rope ladder to lower themselves into the bank, and also ingenious safe-breaking implements, with which,' tire detectives state, the men could have put their hands on the cash, and decamped within ail hour, if they had not been disturbed. The sleuthing and capture of the criminals form an interesting chapter of crime-detection. Since an attempt on the strong-room of a Mellxmrne bank three months ago, the police here have been convinced that someone with Continental experience and implements the like of which Had not been used 1 in Australia before, was intent on some large hauls in the safe-breaking line. This conviction was emphasised by the cutting open of the strong-room of a suburbam bank last month, when it was evident that a tool was used to (ait gashes in the side of the stiougroom, and that another instrument, like a. huge tin-opener, had finished the job of gouging out large sections to allow a man to enter the room. Entrance to the hank had been effected by chopping a lio'e in the ceiling from tho room above the hank. Iwo robberies wore later committed hv .similar means. Then began the police pursuit in earnest. Eventually, the keenest brains of the detective branch in Sydney discovered that an Indian nicknamed “The King” by the detectives —was one of the mystery men of tho city. With two boon companions he was always on the move, held daily meetings with others at a city calc, and was, generally, a. man worth watching. For three weeks lie was under police surveillance. Ibis ' igilance was increased when the police learned that a foreigner had engaged an office on the floor above the Castleveagli street branch of the Union Bank. THE ARREST. A number of police had a limitless vigil at the hank the week-end before j ’ast. All last week two police cars Allowed a small Italian car driven by me of the suspects. In this car pecuinr parcels were taken. On Saturday iftornoon the police car picked up the suspects’ car in a distant suburb, and lfter they had lost it two or thieo times, it was once again traced in the pity, Twico it was seen to stop outside the hank building. A squad of detectives watched the bank, hut up to midnight, on Saturday nothing had happened. After another two hours of waiting it- was decided to enter the hank with a key provided by the bank, which had been taken into the police confidence. Creeping up the stairs of

the chambers of which the hank occupies the ' ground floor, the detectives snw a liglit from a room, and heard the sounds of movements within. One detective was dispatched to obtain police reinforcements to surround the building, and when this cordon was m its place, two detectives entered the room and surprised three Italians. They surrendered without resistance under the threat or the dctoctvies’ re volvers

ELABORATE TOOLS. A hole had been ripped over the strong-room of tile bank. The kit captured bv the police comprised hacksaws, drills, borers, bolt cutters, keenly tempered snips, wrenches, torches, huge tin-openers with extra blades set at various angles, and a circular holecutter. The last-named is new to Australian police. Tt had with it several damped teeth, and once damped to the side of a. strong-room, could be manipulated with such vigour that within half an hour a hole could be cut large enough to admit the passage of a man’s body. “ THE KING.” Of the three men then captured, “The King,” who the police had so assiduously shadowed for three weeks, was one. He is stated to he one of the most picturesque characters handled by detectives in recent years. He nevei carried any of the tools, allowing others to dri the menial jobs. Believed to he the son of an Italian police superintendent. he is a mechanic by P* Bessie,., and lie is a well-built, intelligent quick-witted young man: He s< *^ eC to be pleased and proud that the police regarded his arrest as a capture out o ■ the ordinary, and he boasted of h • prowess. He remarked to one of tl detectives who effected Ins <m°st ■ <i api Tf T had got ' that £9OOO, 1 would have had a, good breakfast! j The other four men arrested were " ™ in their beds, all with their ahum "locks set for 4.30 a.m. At least some, if not. all. are suspected of being cim inals deported from Italy by the Alus solini regime witlim the pns three years, and one of the reasons X the police secured a remand of tlleir cases when they were charged in Court was to endeavour to obtain formation concerning them fiom police in.ltaly.