£3.5m stolen in Iraq bank robbery

Robbers stole more than six billion Iraqi dinars (£3.5 million) from a bank near the Iraqi city of Najaf today after a police officer drugged fellow bank guards.

The robbery took place at dawn at the state-run Al-Rafidain bank in the town of al-Mishkhab, about 20 miles south of Najaf.

A policeman who was guarding the bank offered cups of tea laced with sleeping medication to four guards at the bank, knocking them out for the night, according to a local police and a bank official.

The robbers made off with the money while the guards slept. The policeman who drugged the other guards escaped with the thieves.