By Sarah de Sainte Croix, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Yesterday in broad daylight armed robbers stole R$240,000 from a branch of Santander Bank on the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC) campus in Gávea. The robbery occurred at around 12:30 PM when four men entered the university campus and proceeded towards the bank.
It is believed that three of the men passed through the bank’s revolving doors, where they disarmed the security guard.
At least one of the assailants is believed then to have entered the restricted area of the bank with an employee and accessed the safe.
A Santander employee remembered seeing one of the men carrying a grenade although no acts of violence were reported.
Initial suspicions indicate that it may have been inside job.
PUC’s Vice Rector, Augusto Sampaio, told O Globo, “The security at PUC is sufficient. We do not have armed security, thank God, and have never had a serious incident like this. All entrances and gates to the university are filmed.”
This happened just days after thirty people were robbed at gunpoint while on a mountain hike at Pedra da Gávea in Tijuca forest Sunday morning.
Read more (in Portuguese).
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