ATM thieves strike it rich on weekends, holidays
JALANDHAR: Holidays and weekends are a time when thieves seem to be lurking around every corner, targeting automated teller machines (ATMs) that are loaded with extra cash to facilitate customers.
In the last seven days, three ATMs, including two of Punjab and Sind Bank in Kapurthala district and one of UCO Bank at Alawalpur near Adampur in Jalandhar, were targeted by thieves, with cops remaining clueless about their identity. Three of these kiosks are adjacent to banks and are sans security guards.
A quick reconnaissance of recent incidents reveals that an unidentified person broke open an unguarded ATM of UCO Bank branch at Alawalpur bus stand in wee hours on April 4, a bank holiday on account of Ram Navami, and looted ₹21,000.
In Phagwara’s Ranipur village, an unguarded automated teller machine (ATM) of Punjab and Sind Bank was targeted branch in the wee hours of April 9 (Sunday). The suspect, who had covered his face, decamped with ₹41,500 after breaking open the machine.
In a similar incident, some unidentified persons barged into an unguarded ATM kiosk of Punjab and Sind Bank branch at Dayalpur village near Bholath on Sunday night and took away ₹1.5 lakh after opening the machine with gas cutters.
The robbers sprayed dark-coloured paint on the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera so that it could not record their activity, police said.