Police probe after hole in the wall gang strikes again

DETECTIVES are hunting the members of a dangerous gang who blast their way into cash machines using ‘gas bombs’.

In the latest theft at the weekend, raiders targeted an ATM in Lanarkshire before escaping with a five-figure sum.

Police believe the raid on the Royal Bank of Scotland cash machine in Abbeygreen, Lesmahagow, at 4am on Sunday, could be linked to a spate of similar robberies over the past two years.

Detectives refused to discuss the raids in details but the robbers are understood to have used a device ignited by gas to breach the machine.

The raiders, described as ‘audacious and organised’, may be a gang from England who ‘hit’ out-of-the-way ATMs.

Referring to the Lesmahagow theft, Detective Inspector John Lamb of Wishaw CID said: ‘The bank is in a village surrounded by a number of homes. There

‘There would have been

noise from vehicles’

would have been noise from vehicles and the break in.

‘It was a rather audacious robbery, which needed planning and more than one person to carry it out.’

He urged anyone who saw suspicious activity to contact police.

The crime seemingly mirrors the tactics of a raid in Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire, in December, when a five-figure sum was stolen from a Post Office ATM in Main Street. Police were alerted by reports of an early morning ‘explosion’.

Witnesses reported masked men trying to remove the cash machine, which was damaged along with the building.

There were two similar raids in Angus in December. An RBS cash machine in Kirriemuir was targeted after a similar raid 15 miles away in Friockheim. In 2013, Aberdeenshire saw a spate of ATM-related incidents in towns and villages including New Deer, Oldmeldrum and Ellon.

A Police Scotland spokesman said yesterday: ‘We cannot rule out a link. Our inquiries are continuing.’