THREE people snatched a bag containing more than 1 million yuan (US$120,000) from a man in the lobby of a downtown bank in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, on Tuesday (Jan 9).

The gangsters robbed the man in his 40s just after he had put bundles of notes into his bag in a Baiyun District bank at around 3 p.m., pointing a gun to his back, said a bank security guard.

Frightened of the gun, the depositor and security guard did not yell out, nor chase after the gangsters but called police instead. The suspects took the elevator to the underground garage and ran away. There was no security guard there at that time because they were checking cars elsewhere, the security guard said.

He said the gangsters robbed the man of 870,000 yuan, but an insider who refused to identify himself said the loss could be above 1.5 million yuan.

The police cordoned off the bank as soon as they arrived. But so far there has been no trace of the robbers.

Last year, four masked men armed with spears and iron sticks robbed a couple of 437,000 yuan in a downtown street in Guangzhou on Aug. 5.

Editor: Wing