Iraq bank heist nets thieves nearly $300 million

[IDemo]

Employees arrive to find doors open, cash gone; guards are suspected

Updated: 6:27 a.m. MT July 12, 2007

BAGHDAD - Thieves have stolen nearly $300 million from a bank in Baghdad, police and a bank official said on Thursday, in what is probably one of the biggest thefts in Iraq since the 2003 war to topple Saddam Hussein.

Police said the thieves were three guards who worked at the private Dar Es Salaam bank in Baghdad’s Karrada district.

They said that when bank employees arrived for work on Wednesday they found the front door open and the money gone. The guards, who normally slept at the bank, had also disappeared, they said.

An official at the bank said about $300 million in U.S. dollars had been stolen, as well as 220 million Iraqi dinars ($176,000). He declined to give further details.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19725342/

"Chump change, says Bush."

[CJCRANE]

1. Only $300 million?

Amateurs.

[truebrit71]

2. In a related story Baghdad police were said to be interested in interviewing Danny Ocean...

...;-)