A $4800 reward was offered here Friday by a committee of bankers and police for information leading to the arrest of the gang responsible for bank robberies in Tel Aviv and Ashdod last week. Armed bandits with face masks walked into a Tel Aviv bank and grabbed $8333 without firing a shot. But in Ashdod, four bystanders were injured in a hail of gunfire. One of them was reported in serious condition.
According to the committee, there has been a rash of bank robberies in suburbs and in the centers of towns. Some occurred in broad daylight and the pattern is almost always the same. Masked gunmen enter the bank, demand money and threaten to shoot. Sometimes they shoot to frighten the customers and clerks, the committee said. They grab whatever money is available and speed away in a stolen car before police get to the scene.
The committee was formed three weeks ago by bank officials and the police to combat the wave of stick-ups. Friday’s reward offer represented the first attempt to enlist the public in the campaign.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
