Thieves break into Equity's Kayole branch 'undetected' and steal cash

What you need to know:

The bank manager told the police that he was informed by the ICT department that the ATM signal at the branch was down.
Another employee, a Mr Kuria, was sent and later reported that the PIN pad at the entrance of the bank had been tampered with.
At the scene, it was established that the server room, two big safes and the teller safes were all broken into and unknown amount of cash stolen.

Thieves broke into an Equity Bank branch in Kayole, Nairobi, and stole an unknown amount of money on Saturday night.

The theft, which points to an insider job, was only detected on Sunday at around 3pm despite the fact that the bank is usually guarded.

The bank manager, Mr Chrispo Maina, told the police that he was informed by the ICT department at the bank's headquarters that the ATM signal at the branch was down.

Another employee, Mr Simon Kamau Kuria, was sent and later reported that the PIN pad at the entrance of the bank had been tampered with.

Server room and safes broken into

At the scene, it was established that the server room, two big safes and the teller safes were all broken into and unknown amount of cash stolen.

According to the police, the suspects disabled the bank's CCTV and alarm systems after they drilled the rear wall which they used as both exit and entry points.

Detectives recovered several tools used in the break-in and two blankets. No cash was recovered.

The senior bank officials were on Monday still reconciling the books to establish how much was stolen.

In another incident involving the same bank last year, thieves posing as the bank auditors stole Sh20 million in Othaya in Nyeri County.

Three suspects were charged with the robbery.