Patna, May 15: Armed criminals today looted about Rs 70 lakh from two nationalised banks in Madhubani and Banka districts within a span of four hours.

However, prompt action of the police yielded in recovery of a major portion of the booty. Three robbers, including the kingpin of a gang, were caught and two motorcycles used in the crime seized.

The first incident occurred at the Shivnagar branch of Punjab National Bank under Benipatti police station in Madhubani.

A gang of six criminals riding five motor-cycles reached the bank around 11.30am and held its employees and customers captive at gunpoint.

The robbers assaulted the cashier of the bank, H.N. Khan, as he refused to give them the keys of the strongroom.

Once the criminals got hold of the keys, they opened the boxes and collected Rs 47.86 lakh in cash in two bags.

A private security guard was also taken hostage by the gangsters, who started firing indiscriminately and hurled bombs to create panic among the residents while fleeing towards Sitamarhi along India-Nepal border.

“The criminals had damaged the closed-circuit television camera installed at the bank,” deputy inspector-general of police (Darbhagna range) Sudhanshu Kumar said.

On getting information, a police team, led by Madhubani superintendent of police Saurabh Kumar, chased the criminals, who fled towards Sitamarhi. Three of them were caught near Barari along the Madhubani-Sitamarhi border.

The police found about Rs 46 lakh on the arrested trio and seized two motorcycles. “This is perhaps the first time that such a huge amount looted by the robbers has been seized by the police within three hours of the incident in the recent past,” additional director-general of police Ravinder Kumar said.

Two of the arrested robbers have been identified as Saroj Kumar Thakur (kingpin) and Lalit Paswan. Thakur, a resident of Aurai in Muzaffarpur district, was wanted in several cases of loot and dacoity in Muzaffarpur and Sitamarhi.

The other robbery was reported in Banka district, where criminals took away Rs 22.5 lakh from UCO Bank under Baunsi police station.

The criminals barged into the bank around 2.30pm and decamped with the money after assaulting the employees.

Since January, five bank robberies have been reported from various parts of the state.