TN Police Arrest Key Suspect In 2 ATM Robberies In Chennai Suburbs

Chennai: Tamil Nadu police on Tuesday arrested the kingpin of two ATM robberies within three days in the outskirts of Chennai last week and are looking for four more members of the gang. The ATMs of private banks at Somangalam and Gummidipoondi were cut open using a welding machine and Rs. 22 lakh was stolen from both the machines last week.

The key suspect belonging to Uttar Pradesh was found in Jaipur in Rajasthan by the police teams of Tambaram and Thiruvallur. A special team has gone to Haryana to arrest the other members of the gang. On August 25, an unidentified gang cut an ATM machine of a ICICI bank using a welding machine and decamped with Rs. 10 lakh with several lakhs at Somangalam in Kanchipuram district. On August 27, Rs. 12 lakh was stolen from another private bank ATM at Gummidipoondi using the same modus operandi.

In both the robberies, the gang had sprayed chemicals on the CCTVs so that their faces are not shown by it, turning the police task tougher. At Somangalam, a security guard is not placed in the booth but CCTVs were installed and connected to the bank headquarters in Mumbai through the internet. When the gang entered the ATM booth and tried to break the machine, the siren in the bank headquarters went off. The location of the ATM was also known to the bank headquarters and the bank officials immediately alerted the Somangalam police station.

It is said the police personnel in the police station were unable to find the ATM and searched several places before reaching the ATM at Somangalam. When they reached the ATM, the gangsters had decamped with the money.

In Gummidipoondi, the ATM centres of Axis Bank and Indian Overseas Bank are located in adjacent buildings on the bypass road in Gummidipoondi. When a customer visited the Axis Bank ATM to withdraw cash, he found the machine damaged and alerted the police.