Cash worth Rs 44 lakh looted after man breaks open ATM machines in Tapi, sets one on fire

According to Vyara police, a mini truck was seen stopping outside the ATM kiosk situated at Kanpura area on Thursday night. One person alighted the vehicle, entered the kiosk and closed the shutters, they added.

The person then sprayed some chemicals over CCTV cameras to avoid being identified and, with the help of a gas cutter, broke open the two ATM machines and looted cash worth Rs 44 lakh, police said.

After the emergency alarm rang at the head office at SBI, Mumbai, Tapi police control room was alerted about the incident.

Vyara police reached the spot and found the ATM machines broken, cash missing and flames emanating from one of the machines.

A complaint in this connection was lodged by one of the employees of SBI at Vyara town police station Friday after which police registered an offence of theft against four to five unknown persons.

Tapi district Superintendent of Police Rahul Patel told The Indian Express, “The entire incident took place within just 12 to 15 minutes. We suspect involvement of a professional gang. Going through CCTV footage, we found that the mini truck ferried the accused to the periphery of the town after which they took another vehicle to move ahead. We are working on some leads.”

He further said, “We are also looking into details of people who were earlier involved in similar ATM thefts in Surat, Bharuch and Valsad. There was no security guard deployed at the kiosk and we are trying to find out why such a negligent approach was taken. We also have CCTV footage showing the suspects performing a recce of the ATM centre, multiple times, a few days ago.”