Commenting on the raid of the depositor Sally Hafez on its branch in Sodeco today, BLOM Bank said in a statement that “the client has not attended the branch or performed any banking operation of any kind for more than a year and a half.”
It added, “Yesterday, she visited the branch and met with its manager and asked him to help her withdraw an amount from her account to treat her sick sister” and that the branch manager showed full cooperation and asked her to provide him with documents to help her.
Hence, according to the bank statement, the raid came as a surprise to the branch, stating that Hafez came in “with her sister and a large group of people who detained the employees and customers and threw gasoline at the employees and those present, threatening to burn them.”
The bank concluded that “what it was exposed to was a premeditated and planned operation with the aim of harming.”
It is to note that the sister, reportedly a cancer patient in need of the money, was seen in a car outside the bank. Sally Hafez said in an interview that she was carrying a toy gun to intimidate the bank’s employees, and she apologized for the terror she caused.
A number of injuries were recorded inside the bank, due to the stampede that took place.
A few hours after that raid took place, another raid took place at Bank MED in Aley by a Lebanese depositor for his money.
Related: An Armed Woman Raided Blom Bank In Beirut For Her Money (Video).
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