Bhubaneswar, Oct. 31: Five thieves dressed as policemen today looted cash worth Rs 50 lakh which was on its way to Union Bank in Bhubaneswar from Sambalpur on a Bolero.

The money was to be deposited at the bank’s currency chest at Bhubaneswar.

Besides a driver, there was an armed security guard and two other bank employees in the vehicle.

Around 11am, the vehicle was intercepted by five men in police uniforms, near a bridge near Charmal, around 320km from Bhubaneswar.

The “police personnel”, who spoke in Hindi with the four, asked for the gun licence from the bank’s security guard. After a “check”, the five started to threaten the guard saying that his licence was “fake”. The four were told to follow the “police” to the nearest police station for some paper work.

The four were then made to sit at the back. While two “personnel” sat in the front seat with the driver, the other three sat with the guard and the bank employees at the back.

The vehicle was then taken via Sukha bridge towards a jungle. The bank staff were then overpowered by the men in uniform who injected them with some drug. After an hour or so, when the four regained consciousness, they found their hands and feet tied up. The cash chest was open with all the money gone.

Charmal police reached the spot after it received a tip off from a fisherman who had found the vehicle and the men in it. A forensic team was subsequently pressed into service.

“We have recovered a gun from the forest. It was found broken,” said inspector in charge R.K. Mallick of Charmal police station.

“We suspect that the robbers must be from Jharkhand or Bengal and we have, therefore, alerted our counterparts there,” he added.

Meanwhile all four victims have been taken for medical examination at the district hospitals and their condition is said to be stable. An FIR has been lodged.