Man crashes truck into bank

NALINEE SEELAL

Employees at the Sangre Grande branch of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) were left traumatised yesterday after a former customer, said to be mentally unstable, crashed his truck into the bank’s glass door entrance. The incident caused widespread panic among staffers who at first thought it was a terrorist attack while others felt it was a robbery in progress.

Officials said that shortly after 11 am, while employees were preparing to proceed on lunch, the man who visited the bank over the past few weeks and threatened employees, drove his truck into the front glass doors. He had previously told employees they owed him three trillion dollars and if he was not paid he would find a way to deal with them.

According to an ADB source, because staffers deemed the man to be mad, his threats were ignored. The source confirmed that the man was a former customer who had paid off his loan and whose account was closed. A report was made to the Sangre Grande police and officers went to the bank and found a blue three-tonne truck partially inside the bank.

The suspect had long escaped but his name and address were given to investigators. Employees were allowed to leave for the day. However, senior managers remained at the bank and assisted the police in their investigations. Efforts were being made to have the damaged vehicle removed from the entrance of the bank’s compound.

The 28-year-old suspect remained at large yesterday and officers said he could face a charge of malicious damage when he is found and arrested.