Train no getaway in bungled robbery

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- A gang of armed robbers was apprehended trying to make a getaway on Hong Kong's train system on Monday.

After a shootout that left a security guard fighting for his life in hospital, the gang stole $HK1 million ($130,000) from a cashbox and then tried to hail a taxi to make their escape.

When the taxi refused to stop the robbers descended into Hong Kong's underground railway system, the MTR.

Unfortunately for them, they got on the same train as a plain-clothes MTR anti-pickpocket officer.

Seeing that two of the gang of four were covered in bloodstains, the officer called police on his beat radio and an ambush was set up further down the line.

There, a team of task force police, posing as passengers boarded the train and rushed the gang.

The police officers forced the robbers onto the platform and after a brief struggle, arrested them.

The security guard was the second to be shot in an armed robbery in Hong Kong in the past five days.

Last Wednesday, a guard was shot dead in front of lunchtime customers at a bank on Hong Kong's Kowloon side.

The guard involved in Monday's shootout is listed as in a critical condition in hospital, suffering from chest and arm injuries.

Two of the suspects in the robbery had gunshot wounds to the legs.