Man robs bank with chilli sauce

JAKARTA (JP): A man who desperately needed cash for an upgrading education course attempted to rob a bank in the West Java town of Cirebon with a double-edged knife and a toy pistol loaded with chilli sauce.

The 27-year-old man entered Bank Jabar on Monday afternoon, spraying chilli sauce at the tellers while shouting "Gimme the money, gimme the money," Antara reported.

The man, a school guard identified only as Ma, proved he meant it by chopping off the telephone line with his double-edged knife as an employee was trying to call the police, eyewitnesses said.

But he proved to be an amateur when he ran for his life empty- handed after people in the bank located in the busy Cirebon Mal screamed for help.

His adventure ended with him being mobbed black and blue and then being locked up in police custody.

As to his chilli sauce pistol, he said he was inspired to use it by watching action films on TV and at the cinema. (pan)