Suspect held after seeking treatment for wounds

Bullet wounds to the leg and jaw forced one of the suspects in Wednesday's attempted bank robbery out of hiding and he was arrested yesterday after turning up at a health clinic for treatment.

Sources said another three men, one of whom also had a light gunshot injury, were arrested in connection with the foiled robbery that ended in a shootout with the police outside the HSBC headquarters in Mill Street, Qormi. All four suspects are Maltese.

The one who was seriously wounded went for treatment to a private clinic with a bullet lodged in his jaw. The other bullet went through his leg, sources said. He is expected to undergo surgery this morning at Mater Dei Hospital.

The other injured suspect suffered a superficial bullet graze.

Sources said the men were all "known to police" as they had been investigated over serious crimes in the past. One of them was arrested at a caravan in Marsa near a potato warehouse.

The suspects will be tested for gunshot residue but investigations were a "work in progress" and more people could be arrested as the investigations evolved, the sources said.

None of the four suspects is an employee of the bank although the police are not ruling out the involvement of insiders.

The attempted hold-up took place on Wednesday evening when three men are said to have walked into the HSBC building wearing wigs and fake moustaches.

They entered by using an electronic code known only to employees. Once inside they assaulted an SAG officer, removed his pistol and tied him and two employees in the control room, according to police sources.

At about 7.30 p.m. a neighbour informed the police that suspicious activity was going on near the bank. A patrol car was sent to the area but, when it got there, a car parked outside HSBC's headquarters sped off, leading officers into a chase.

The three men, however, were still inside and in the meantime someone in the building called for help. The police officers returned and a shootout erupted.

A getaway car, different from the first, turned up in the middle of the shooting and sped off again with the robbers on board. The police shot at the vehicle but failed to stop it.

A 50-year-old woman, who lives next door to the bank, had just walked out of the house to give her son and his girlfriend a lift to Floriana for the MTV concert.

"Suddenly we heard a police car's siren. Then a car, I think it was the getaway car, drove off and the police car followed it and then came back...

"That was when the shooting started... There was a lot of it," she said.

When asked whether the bank would be stepping up its security after the incident, a spokesman said the bank's security was "sacrosanct" and he would not comment on the subject.