CAIRO: HSBC bank said its staff and customers were unharmed after a “minor incident” occurred Tuesday morning outside its Sixth of October branch, according to a statement.
"A minor incident occurred this morning in the Sixth [of] October area outside the offices of HSBC and the offices of another bank,” HSBC said in an emailed statement without specifying the details of the incident.
State media said that police thwarted an attempted armed robbery of that particular branch.
“The police presence in the area, acting on suspicions, immediately took the necessary action and secured the area outside both banks resulting in the rapid departure of an unmarked car,” the statement read.
On Jan. 30, HSBC’s branch in the Fifth Settlement was attacked by armed robbers, who escaped with about LE 1 million. Two customers and one staff member were slightly injured, the bank said at the time.
On Tuesday, the bank noted that “this incident follows other recent incidents across the country involving other banks and non-bank cash-based business outlets.”
Since late January, a number of armed robberies have taken place in a country previously unaccustomed to such incidents.
In late January, two men attacked the Super Service company in the east of the Egyptian capital, seizing LE 800,000, AFP reported quoting the official MENA news agency. A post office in Helwan was raided by individuals who fired guns in the air before making off with LE 150,000.
That same week, a hold-up at a money exchange bureau in the old souk, or market, in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, left a French tourist dead and three people wounded, when the four masked robbers traded fire with police as they fled they scene, AFP reported.
Since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak last February, Egypt has seen sporadic and sometimes deadly unrest coupled with a sharp rise in crime, linked to the scarcity of the unpopular police force, who were heavily criticized for their crackdown on protesters during the uprising.
In the capital itself, with its population of 20 million, crimes such as car theft have became more widespread in the past 12 months, but armed attacks on banks remain rare.
“The welfare and safety of our customers and staff are key concerns of HSBC. We will continue to expend every effort to ensure that our staff, customers and premises are safe and secured at all times, and continue to work with the authorities as well as our own security teams to ensure the safety of customers, staff and property,” the bank added in the statement. -Additional reporting by AFP.
