Bank Robbers
Interpol notice issued for Lebanese central bank Governor Riad Salameh
In the grips of an economic crisis that began in 2019, some Lebanese citizens have taken matters into their own hands. In 2022 Salli Hafiz live-streamed herself robbing a bank, to fund her sister’s hospital bills. Several Lebanese citizens have taken similar desperate measures to retrieve what is theirs.
On 14 September 2022 Salli Hafiz became a "hero" to many Lebanese people. She walked into a Beirut bank armed with a toy gun. "I am Salli Hafiz, I came today ... to take the deposits of my sister who is dying in hospital," she claimed. Salli, like many Lebanese depositors, was frustrated with the devaluation of her savings as they sat trapped, depreciating in a bank for years. Salli walked out of the bank with US$13,000 of her own savings that she had been unable to access. The last time she could freely access her savings was "maybe four years ago," she said after the raid. Hafiz’ heist was the second bank robbery in a month, after a man stormed a bank with a rifle, demanding some of his US$200,000 in frozen savings to pay hospital bills for his sick father.
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