Cash van robbery 'over in 15 seconds'

Police at the scene of the robbery at the Albany shopping centre yesterday. The bank will reopen today. Photo / Steven McNicholl

A masked man armed with a sawn-off shotgun forced a bank security guard to the ground at a busy shopping centre before taking bags of cash.

Witnesses to the North Shore holdup yesterday said they thought it was a training exercise.

The drama began as two ACM Security guards were dropping cash at the Westpac bank at Westfield Albany about 10.30am.

One guard was unloading cash from a van when a blue Subaru Impreza pulled up.

Witness Nirmala Lal said a tall, thin masked man got out, pointed his shotgun at one of the guards and yelled at him to get down on the pavement.

Mrs Lal, who was working next door at Number One Shoe Warehouse, said: "I had just finished serving a customer and I happened to look out of the window when I saw this guy pointing a gun at this guy.

"It didn't seem real, I thought it was just some training so we were laughing. It took a few seconds before I realised it was real.

"When he made him lie on the ground, I realised it was a robbery. I didn't know what to do and I was in such a state of shock.

"There were bundles of cash, little coin bags, all over the ground after he [the guard] dropped them."

Howard's Storage World staff member Michael Marshall said the gunman then jumped into the getaway car, which took off at high speed through the carpark.

"They hooned off with a hiss and a roar, tyres squealing and spinning," he said.

"They just took off and went over the roundabout ... the whole thing took about 15 seconds."

Detective Senior Sergeant Kim Libby, of the North Shore CIB, said the suspects then drove about 500m into the undercover carpark of the Megacentre's Pak'n Save.

What is thought to have been a white Toyota Caldina station wagon was waiting for them.

"Possibly a third person was under the carpark with that vehicle. But we're still speaking to witnesses."

Mrs Lal said the ACM Security guard who was forced to the ground looked pretty shaken up.

"He was all red and was panicking. Then all the police showed up and were walking around with notepads and it was quite chaotic.

"Everyone was trying to work out what was going on."

It took her the rest of the day to compose herself because she could not stop shaking.

"It was very scary. I never ever thought something like that would ever happen."

The Westpac branch was closed for the rest of the day but would reopen today.

Mr Libby said the gunman had socks pulled up to meet distinctive trousers that ended just above his ankles. He also wore gloves and a dark zipped hoodie.

The gunman's face was covered with a green bandanna and a cap.

"They were pretty well covered, to be honest. It was hard to tell what ethnicity they were, and very few words were spoken."

The security guards had made statements and were "pretty shaken up".

Police were trying to access CTV footage last night and could not confirm how much cash was taken.

Witnesses are asked to contact police on (09) 477 5000.