Iran police arrest 13 suspects in Tehran’s high-profile bank heist
Iranian authorities say they have arrested 13 people involved in the high-profile robbery of the contents of over 160 safe boxes from a state bank in the capital Tehran.
Iranian state TV broadcast on Friday the images of suspected robbers detained by Tehran police after they managed to abscond with the contents of 168 safe boxes from one of the downtown branches of Iran’s Bank Melli.
The state television also released footage of the discovered items following the bank heist, including jewelry, gold coins and cash.
"Thirteen suspects in the robbery of Bank Melli were arrested, and large quantities of stolen property have been discovered," Tehran's chief prosecutor Ali Salehi said, quoted by the Iranian Judiciary's Mizan Online news agency.
Salehi said 10 suspects had been arrested in the capital and the north of Iran, while three others were detained in a neighboring country, which he did not identify.
Tehran's police chief General Hossein Rahimi said the fugitives who fled abroad had been detained thanks to "good cooperation" with Interpol and were in the process of being transferred back to the country.
"None of the bank's employees participated in the robbery," he told state television, adding the bank had been notified of security weaknesses about a month earlier.
The thieves had reportedly taken advantage of a public holiday at the weekend to break into the bank, picking the lock of a rear door and seizing the contents of the safe boxes before escaping and locking the door behind them.
Bank Melli previously announced that those customers affected by the robbery would be directly and swiftly compensated for 50% of the value of what they personally claim were being kept in the safe boxes.
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