Forwarded From: blueskyat_private Posted at 01:20 p.m. PDT; Tuesday, August 4, 1998 Key Bank customers' boxes are looted by Matthew Ebnet and Michael Ko Seattle Times staff reporters Sometime between Friday evening and yesterday morning, thieves bored a hole through the concrete roof of the International District branch of Key Bank, lowered themselves into a vault by rope and plundered the safety-deposit boxes. After disabling the alarm, the thieves stole from as many as 200 of the bank's 600 boxes, said Chris Arnold, a corporate spokesman for the bank in Denver. "The burglars were extremely sophisticated," Arnold said. "Things like this do not happen very often. Indications suggest that the alarm system worked . . . (but) one of the central parts of our investigation is to figure out how they might have disabled it." Bankers this morning hadn't determined how much money and other valuables were stolen because they don't know what was stored in the boxes. Confidentiality rules prohibit the bank from keeping any kind of inventory. Some customers keep jewelry, gold and silver. Others keep stamp collections and their wills. "Nobody knows but the customer. That's the point with safety-deposit boxes," Arnold said. Bank workers were calling customers at home today, trying to figure out what they stored at the branch and how to reimburse them for the loss. They hope to reach all customers by day's end tomorrow. The four-story bank at the corner of Seventh Avenue South and South Dearborn Street is surrounded by Asian-food warehouses. Signs were posted today at both the front and back entrances, advising customers in four Asian languages and in English that, "Due to robbery investigation, branch will be closed until further notice." The FBI is investigating the crime but did not return telephone calls today. Arnold said never before has there been such a masterful break-in at a Key Bank. -o- Subscribe: mail majordomoat_private with "subscribe isn". Today's ISN Sponsor: New Dimensions International [www.newdimensions.net]
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