VILNIUS - Three men are on the run with more than 1 million litas (289,900 euros) in cash after committing a series of robberies in the town of Salininkai.
In their latest act, the robbers fired shots in the air and stole a private security company's vehicle outside a Maxima grocery store on Oct. 14.
At around 6 p.m., one of two Falck security guards who had arrived to collect the store's cash takings left his partner outside in the company's Volkswagen Transporter.
While the driver was alone and unarmed, three robbers forced him to the back of the vehicle and drove away, according to a press release from the Vilnius City Police.
The robbers sped off in the vehicle for a few kilometers where they released the security guard and transferred to a red Volkswagen Passat. The Falck driver was unarmed and uninjured, and the robbers failed to get any cash, according to the police report.
Because he was in the store at the time of the incident, the driver's co-worker wasn't able to come to his rescue, a tactical issue that police say needs to be reviewed.
"He had no possibilities to react when he came outside, everything was [already] done," said Vilnius City police spokesman Polis Radvovicius.
"There was a mistake, and we should learn from those accidents," Vilnius City Department Chief Jonas Lazarenka told Lietuvos Rytas.
Falck Security would not comment on the investigation.
The Vilnius City Police, the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau, Falck and the General Prosecutor's Office are investigating the series of robberies. Police are releasing no information about the group's earlier robberies in which they have reportedly made off with a substantial amount of cash.
Radvovicius said the huge sum of money from the series of robberies makes it likely investigators will act quickly in finding the suspected men.
"We've only had a few incidents like this type of serious crime. Every case is individual and has different scenarios, but if we have serious crimes like this, it becomes an absolute priority [to solve]," Radvovicius said.
Falck Security is offering a reward of 150,000 litas (43,480 euros) to anyone who can provide information about the crime.
