Police have discovered a secret tunnel in St Andrew’s that was going to be used by thieves to get into the HSBC bank situated on the main road.
In scenes reminiscent of a Hollywood film, the police yesterday discovered the 15-metre-long tunnel that was only metres away from one of the bank’s vaults in the basement.
Photos released by the police show a professional job with the tunnel walls supported at regular intervals by metal pipes.
Nobody has been arrested so far as forensic experts scoured the scene of the crime to collect evidence.
The tunnel was1.5 metres high and just over a metre wide
The tunnel started from a garage that forms part of a complex in Triq il-Qatta across the road from the bank’s back entrance. The garage complex is situated in a residential area.
Thieves removed stones from the garage wall to start digging underneath the road.
The tunnel was 1.5 metres high and just over a metre wide and crossed Triq it-Tiben in the direction of the bank.
Police said they had received a tip-off some weeks ago that some people were preparing to rob the bank.
An intensive investigation led the police to discover the garage where the tunnel entrance was situated.
“It is believed that the people responsible for the digging were going to use the tunnel to gain access to the vault and steal everything inside,” the police said.
Police investigations to establish the identity of the people involved in the foiled robbery are ongoing.
Magistrate Audrey Demicoli is leading an inquiry.
The HSBC St Andrew’s branch was targeted by armed robbers eight years ago when three men with uncovered faces stole cash after tying up the police officer on duty. The hold-up happened at 10am in full view of customers.
No one was injured and the weapons were not used.
In another hold-up incident at the same branch in the early 1990s, armed robbers were involved in a shootout with police after a bank employee gestured to a passing patrol car from his first floor office.
The hold-up at the then Mid-Med Bank was foiled and one of the robbers was injured.
The most spectacular recent successful hold-up took place in December 2007 when thieves stole €1 million from the HSBC branch in Balzan during the run-up for euro adoption.
Asked whether the St Andrew’s HSBC branch actually holds any cash or whether it is just an information/agency branch, a company spokesman said: “HSBC Bank Malta is aware of the news item and understands that there is an ongoing police investigation”.