Five men arrested while trying to break open ATM with the help of stolen car
NEWDELHI: Desperate for money to finance his wedding to his childhood sweetheart, a 19-year-old thief learnt tricks from YouTube videos before attempting to break open an ATM with help of his friends. Their plan, however, was foiled by a few youths who happened to visit the ATM to withdraw cash.
They had planned to break the ATM’s cash box by pulling it apart after hooking it to a car.
The five thieves tried to flee in their Esteem car, but the driver panicked and hit a road divider, which led to the arrest of two. Three others, including a juvenile, were nabbed later.
The interrogation of the alleged mastermind, Manish, revealed that this was not his first attempt at taking the crime route to finance his wedding. Less than two weeks ago, they had unsuccessfully tried to break into a bank.
According to Milind Dumbere, DCP (north-west), Manish was in love with a woman for the last seven years and was keen to marry her. Since he wanted his wedding to be a lavish affair, he needed money. He had shared his wedding plan with his friend, Ankit, early this year.
In January, they joined hands to rob the office of an online food delivery company in north Delhi’s Prashant Vihar. They were able to successfully make away with ₹96,000 cash and a laptop. Not satisfied with the loot, they then decided to target an ATM.
On May 13, the duo tried to break into a branch of Union Bank located in M2K in Rani Bagh in the afternoon. “They had broken a part of the bank’s wall and tried to get in, but the alarm went off, forcing them to call off the heist. But they had managed to take away the DVR of CCTV cameras because of which they had remained untraced,” said a senior police officer.
The two then decided to target ATMs instead. “They took tips from YouTube videos on how to break open the machine. Since they needed more manpower for their operation, they expanded their gang by adding three more members,” said the DCP.
On Tuesday night, the gang stole an Esteem car from a slum in Shakurpur. Their plan was to break the front part of the ATM, tie one end of a rope to the cover of the machine and the other end to a hook fixed to the Esteem car. Driven in the opposite direction at a high speed, the car may have helped pull out the cover of the box that holds the cash.
The five thieves decided to target the Canara Bank ATM located in Shakarpur’s Sri Nagar Colony. Armed with a hammer, a chopper, a rope and a pistol, they landed outside the ATM booth around 2.30am on Wednesday.
Having done with the rope work, they were just about to start the car when three local youths happened to visit the ATM. Taking no time to comprehend that a crime was unfolding, the three youths raised an alarm.
This forced the thieves to abandon their plan and get into their car and flee. However, the three youths began chasing the car and were soon joined by a policeman, causing the driver to panic and hit a divider. The thieves abandoned their car and tried to escape.