Thiruvananthapuram: Unidentified thieves looted Rs 10.5 lakh from the State Bank of India’s ATM kiosk at Ambalathinkara near Kazhakoottam in the wee hours of Friday. The robbery came to light when the SBI representatives came to refill the kiosk around 5.30 p.m. on Friday. They found that the vault of the ATM had been cracked open with a gas cutter. They alerted the Kazhakoottam police who reached the spot. There were no security personnel at the ATM and it was last refilled on Thursday night.
While some of the CCTV cameras were reportedly out of order, police officials said that they had got the visuals of the loot. As per Kazhakoottam cyber city assistant police commissioner, the last transaction happened around 1.15 a.m. and the theft occurred around the same time. The gang made a hole on the rear of the kiosk and damaged one of the CCTVs inside. They suspectedly used gas cutters and crowbars to crack open the vault. Though a police beat patrol had passed by the area around 2.15 a.m, they had found the shutter down.
The thieves had presumably downed the shutter during this time. The ATM is located at a dark place making the theft easier. Finger print bureau and dog squad gathered evidence from the spot. Experts believe this to be the handiwork of interstate thieves. A similar loot was reported last month from an ATM at Chengannur from where around Rs 4 lakh was stolen. Thefts using gas cutters have been reported in places like Delhi, Punjab, Bengaluru and Allahabad. In the capital city here, an ATM was skimmed by a few Romanian citizens last year.
