Coimbatore : A futile attempt was made to loot a private bank in Annur in the early hours of Friday.

Police on the morning rounds noticed the window grill outside the building housing the bank broken open and heard the siren blaring from inside around 4.15 AM.

They immediately alerted the senior police officials and the bank manager, who rushed to the spot, police said.

The miscreants, who entered the bank by breaking open the window, failed to break open the locker. As the alarm went off they ran away.

The locker contained Rs 4 crore worth pledged gold jewels and Rs10 lakh in cash, police, quoting the bank officials, said.

Police are going through the CCTV footage, kept at many places on Avanashi Road to identify the burglars. One footage shows that a bulb in front of the bank was suddenly lit around 3.15 AM, suggesting the miscreants entered at that time.

Police recovered a 20 metre long electric wire suspected to have been brought for using a cutting machine to break open the locker, they said.