A thief broke into the headmaster’s car and escaped with the money, which was kept on the front passenger seat, while the headmaster went to a restaurant to get a drink.

Zaid said the police have long provided security escort services to more than 100 schools around Kajang whenever they needed to withdraw cash from the bank, Sinar Harian reported.

“When we questioned the headmaster, he said he had never requested for any police escort in his 10 years of service at the school. He also said this was the first time he had experienced an incident (robbery) like this.

“We recommend that schools always get the police to escort them from the bank to a safe place,” he was quoted as saying.

According to Zaid, the police are now tracking down the thief by checking CCTV footage.

“At the moment, we are continuing the investigation by re-examining the closed circuit camera (CCTV) footage to identify the individuals who entered and left the bank,” he said.

He added that the police are not ruling out negligence and the involvement of “insiders” in the case, which is being investigated under Section 379 of the Penal Code.

He also urged anyone with information to contact the nearest police station.

Last night, Zaid was reported to have said that initial investigations revealed that the victim had withdrawn the money from a bank in Kampung Baru Semenyih at about 10am yesterday and placed the cash inside a bag, which was kept on the front passenger’s seat.

When the victim returned to his car, he saw the windscreen on the rear passenger side was broken and the bag containing the cash was missing.

The headmaster is from a primary school in Semenyih.