Thieves steal only ATM

-nearest bank is 72km away

A small town has run out of cash after thieves stole the only ATM in the area.

Robbers tore off the cash machine using a stolen log loader at the at the Murupara Shopping Centre in New Zealand’s north island at about midnight on Monday.

Shops in the town ran out of cash three days later on Thursday, forcing desperate residents to travel 72km to the next ATM.

The town’s only bank almost ran out of cash and closed its doors to customers, leaving them begging for it to re-open.

The thieves, who towed the log loader with a late-model SUV, are yet to be found by police. The ATM, ripped off from the New Zealand Credit Union (NZCU), was found dumped and unopened eight kilometres away, Stuff reported.

Earlier this year, thugs attempted to steal cash from the NZCU by slicing the ATM open with an angle grinder but police are unsure if the incidents are related. Many of Murupara’s 1,700 residents will struggle to travel to the next ATM, several kilometres away, as many do not own vehicles.

‘We can’t access anything and we’re already isolated enough,’ Murupara pharmacy manager Melanie Meihana said. Ms Meihana gave her remaining cash to a customer briefly after her store opened on Thursday.

Other businesses had no cash left by late morning on the same day. Owner of the Bakehouse Cafe, Lois August, said her business is always being broken into by thieves. ‘They just smash my doors down at the back - whatever they can use to break in, they will,’ she said.

‘The last break in was three or four months ago. I thought my door was solid and nobody could get in ... I was wrong.’

Police are looking for a 2019 Ford Everest towing a Prescott trailer with a side-loading ramp, with a log loader.