Suspect Identified in Lebanon Bank Robbery

A masked man held up a Byblos Bank branch in north Lebanon on Wednesday and security sources were able to identify the robbery suspect.

They said the burglar tossed a concussion bomb to cover his escape from Byblos Bank in Bishmizzine in the Koura province.

 

The bank”s deputy manager, Mary Abi Farah, was slightly wounded in the 9 am robbery, police said.

They said the robber escaped with $42,000 and 35 million Lebanese pounds.

 

Security forces rushed to assess and examine the robbed bank.

 

The bank”s surveillance camera snapped a picture of the robber, identified by police as George A.N.

 

The sources said George escaped in a beige Mercedes-300 he had rented from a Tripoli auto exhibition. He

returned the car after the robbery, only to rent a dark blue Hyundai and drive away.

 

Police launched a manhunt for the suspect.

 

Last May, four masked gunmen robbed around $120,000 from the Mediterranean Bank branch in the northern town of Amioun.

 

Security sources had said that the car used by the gunmen to escape was identified as one of the vehicles used by Fatah al-Islam terrorist group in north Lebanon”s Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp.

 

The sources at the time noted that members of Fatah al-Islam had robbed two banks in the northern town of Tripoli and the southern coastal village of Ghaziyeh early in 2007 to finance terrorist attacks in Lebanon.