A man in South Korea was quickly apprehended after attempting to rob a bank with a dinosaur-shaped water pistol. The bizarre incident occurred on February 10 at a bank in Gijang-gun, Busan, where a man in his 30s, disguised in a scarf and hat, entered the building with a travel bag, South China Morning Post reported. The would-be robber then pulled out a black plastic bag, pretending it was a weapon, and yelled, “Get down on your knees!”

The bank staff and customers were shocked, with some screaming in panic. The man then blocked the entrance, approached the counter, and demanded that the staff fill his travel bag with 50,000 Korean won bills, the largest denomination of Korean currency, equivalent to approximately US$34.

However, the attempted heist was foiled when a 53-year-old customer bravely tackled the robber from behind, with the help of several bank staff members. The thief was subdued just two minutes after entering the bank. When police opened the black plastic bag, they found not a deadly weapon, but a toy dinosaur-shaped water pistol, leaving authorities stunned.

A bank official said, “People might find it clumsy or even humorous that a water gun was inside the plastic bag, but at the time, the situation was extremely serious and frightening, leaving employees and customers in fear.”

It was later revealed that the heroic customer, Park Cheon Gyu, was a former member of a special forces unit. As fate would have it, he was at the bank with his wife, and his training kicked in to thwart the attempted robbery.

“I was handling some business when I suddenly heard someone shout, ‘Get down!’ I looked up and saw the robber.  At that moment, I thought that since there was only one robber, all I had to do was take the black bag from him. I felt that I was the only customer there who could handle the situation, and I wanted to end this as quickly as possible. My wife said this would be a birthday she would never forget,” he said. 

According to the police, the thief was struggling with financial difficulties and had been unemployed for five years. The investigation further revealed that the attempted heist was poorly planned, with the “gun” being a toy water pistol, and the robber having made no arrangements for a getaway vehicle or escape plan. 

The absurdity of the situation has sparked widespread amusement on Chinese social media. One user wrote, “Well, now the robber has solved his financial difficulties, in prison.” Another commented, “I feel that even artificial intelligence could not generate such a hilarious news story.”