Bank Robbers and Dye Packs

So a bank robber is at large, having robbed 10 banks in Manhattan and Queens, including Sovereign Bank on Gold Street on March 7.

According to the Tribeca News, the fool wore a dark jacket into the Sovereign Bank with a handkerchief on the lower part of his face around 9:15 A.M He pulled a gun out, and demanded “No dye packs.”

While reading this, I asked myself, “What is a dye pack?”

I went to Wikipedia, the only reliable source I could think to find out such a thing. Turns out a dye pack is something straight out of “Oceans Eleven.” Banks usually have several of them on hand, and they put them in bags of stolen money to fool bank robbers. The devices have small radio signals built in. When they receive a signal sent by a transmitter at the bank, a timer on the device begins. When it goes off, the pack explodes in a sea of red ink all over stolen cash. Read more about them here: http://science.howstuffworks.com/question671.htm

The Gold Street Robbery was the only one the suspect has done in the 1st Precinct. Five took place in Midtown and the rest were in Gramercy, East Village, Lower East Side and Sunnyside, Queens. He’s apparently in his mid thirties, 6’3 and 200 pounds.

You can see pictures here: http://www.tribecatrib.com/news/newsmarch09/0309009robbery.html

Also, all info about the robber should be reported to the FBI/NYPD Joint Bank Robbery Task Force at 212-384-5000, 212-384-2818 or 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).