The band of at least 12 robbers forced their way into the third-floor office of Macro Hunts Ltd housed in a 10-storey building at Dampara near Wasa intersection at around 3:00am after tying up three on-duty Ansars on the ground floor, witnesses and sources said.

The robbers broke open a vault in the office and took away Tk 67,18,906 in cash and the cheques from it. Macro Hunt officials said the stolen cheques cannot be cashed, as they have already given the serial numbers of the cheques to the bank.

Before decamping with the booty, the robbers tied up Waziur Haque, supervisor of the firm, who appeared at the scene from Dhaka at around 4:00am.

Macro Hunts Ltd General Manager Nikhil Chandra Sikder filed a case with the Khulshi Police Station. He expressed the suspicion that the Ansars on duty might have been involved in the robbery, police sources said.

Two robbers first entered the building and tied the Ansars up, making it easy for the rest of the gang to follow, Nikhil told The Daily Star quoting the Ansars.

The police detained eight Ansars manning the building for questioning. They later released five of them and kept the three, who had been on duty during the robbery, for further quizzing.