Miscreants tried to rob a branch of United Commercial Bank (UCB) Limited in Chattogram early today by drugging the security guard, but they apparently failed to break the bank vault.

Police said the miscreants tried to break the bank vault but after failing to do that, they instead put in a new padlock and left the spot.

Meanwhile, the security guard who was drugged was admitted to Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH), said police.

The attempted robbery took place at UCB’s Kadamtali branch in Baitus Sharaf Jilani Market in the city’s Dhaniala para under Double Mooring police station.

The attempted robbery came to attention when another security guard, who came to the office at noon today, noticed the new lock and got no response from inside the bank. He immediately called the 999-emergency hotline.

Police soon came to the spot.

Sadip Das, officer-in-charge (OC) of Double Mooring Police Station, told The Daily Star, “The building is five storey and UCB bank is located on the second and third floors.”

On possible suspects, he said, “On February 2, two youths aged between 25-35 had met the building owner and shown an interest in renting the fifth floor for an NGO office,” said the OC.

“The two then rented a space on the fifth floor and began living there. The landlord, however, allowed them to live there without taking their details.

“The duo, sometime on Friday night, drugged the on-duty security guard and entered the bank by breaking the lock. They tried to break the vault, but failed,” the OC said.

The OC also said that the criminals wiped the bank’s CCTV cameras of all footage and put in the new padlock.

A CCTV footage of a shop located on the ground floor of the building, however, showed the two put lock the main gate and walk out around 3:52am.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) (West) Faruk-ul-Haque said, “The bank vault was locked following the illegal attempts by the criminals and the bank officials also failed to open it.

“Apparently it was a failed attempt but after opening the vault the bank officials will confirm whether anything is missing or not.”