Nine years for daring bank robbery

A Judge in Utrecht has sentenced a man to nine years in prison this morning for taking part in a wild-west robbery of a Rabo Bank branch in 2011.

The Judge found it proven that Karim el M. was one of two men who held up the Rabo Bank in Driebergen on May 24 2011. The city becomes the scene of Hollywood-like scenes, complete with a police chase and shoot-out. The men manage to escape, but one of them, Yassine A., is arrested the next day. Karim el. M escapes and remains fugitive for a year while a national warrant is issued for his arrest. When he is eventually arrested, he claims he was in Morocco at the time of the robbery.

The Judge finds this excuse unbelievable though, because he had been recognized by police officers who chased him. In addition his DNA was found in the car the robbers used to getaway from police. The Judge sentenced conform the demand by the Prosecutor's Office, admonishing the robbers for the chaos and mayhem they caused; he said it was only by sheer luck that nobody got injured.

Karim el M. now joins Yassine A. in prison who was previously already sentenced to nine years. El. M. has a history of bank robberies; a few years ago he was already arrested for a similar stick up.