Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Gang suspected of third Tayside raid
A GROUP convicted of stealing thousands of pounds from ATM machines are the prime suspects for a similar theft in Kirriemuir, a senior police officer has revealed.
Seven men are facing jail for 13 raids on cash machines across the UK including in Aberdeen, Perth and Carnoustie.
And today Detective Superintendent Alex Dowall, pictured right, says members of the same gang are the main suspects for carrying out a £100,000 raid in Kirriemuir. The RBS cash machine in Bank Street was targeted in the early hours of December 20 2014.
Police are still to make arrests in connection with the incident.
Speaking to the Tele, Det Supt Dowall said: “We strongly suspect that members of this group were responsible for carrying out this incident.
“However, at this stage we do not have sufficient evidence to prove that they were responsible. We can only take to court sufficient evidence to prove that individuals committed an offence.
“That’s the reason why we are yet to make any arrests or bring forward any charges.”
Andrew White, Michael Galea, Nanu Miah, Anthony White and Gary Carey were convicted at Liverpool Crown Court after a four-month trial. Carl Cavanagh and Anthony Conroy pleaded guilty before the trial. The gang, all from England, stole a cash machine from a Co-op store in Carnoustie in February last year.
One month earlier, they had targeted a Co-op in Perth, and carried out 11 other raids across the country.
They mainly tried to obtain cash inside the ATMs by filling them with oxyacetylene gas and igniting them with a spark from a car battery.
High-powered cars such as Audi RS4s, RS6s and Mercedes A45 and GLA45 AMGs were then used as getaway vehicles.
Det Supt Dowall added: “We believe members of that group were involved in the Kirriemuir incident but we cannot pin it down to individual members.
“Since they were taken into custody, there have been no further instances of gas attacks at ATM machines across the UK. The most recent conviction in Liverpool does not help us in any way.
“We simply don’t have enough evidence at this time to prove certain members were responsible.”