Afghan Woman Wanted In $1 Million Theft

A customer counts his money after making a withdrawal at Azizi Bank's main branch in Kabul. (file photo)

Officials in Afghanistan are searching for a former bank employee suspected of diverting $1.1 million to relatives' accounts.

The employee, Shokofa Salehi, worked in the money-transfer division at the headquarters of Azizi Bank, a major Afghan lender, in Kabul. The bank's executive, Inayatullah Fazli, said she disappeared around two months ago.

Fazli accused Salehi of operating with the help of some 10 people, which he called a "mafia group."

Senior Afghan police official General Aminullah Amarkhail said two suspects in the case have been detained in Dubai.

Theft is common in Afghanistan's banks. In March, a special tribunal sentenced two senior Kabul Bank executives to five years in prison for fraud that caused the collapse of the country's largest bank in 2010.

Based on reporting by AP and dpa