BEIRUT: An armed man broke into a branch of Byblos Bank in the Lebanese capital Saturday and stole between $16,000 and $17,000, security sources told The Daily Star.

The sources said the armed man, who wore a Balaklava and a pair of sunglasses, entered the Jnah branch of Byblos Bank at around 12.45 p.m.

With a pump action rifle visible underneath his jacket, he ordered clerks at the branch to hand over as much money as they could, the source said, adding that the employees put between $16,000 and $17,000 dollars in a bag and handed it to the robber.

The man then rushed out of the bank and sped away on a moped toward the capital’s southern suburb, the sources said.

Byblos Bank and other banks in the country have been targeted in the past by robbers.

In the summer of 2012, the army arrested two men for alleged involvement in a spree of armed bank robberies that netted more than $1.5 million in the country.