Novel ATM Robbery: TN Cops nab suspect in Haryana, search on for Trio

Unlike breaking ATM machines to loot cash, a gang had employed a novel technically smart modus operandi to swindle money. The Cash Deposit cum Withdrawal machines alone were targeted and not the regular cash delivery machines. In ATM machines, the sensor enables the delivery of cash and it is duly debited in the account. While in the regular ATMS, the sensor could not be hidden by a customer, in the CD machines, it could be hidden by hand to hoodwink the machine and the cash taken so that there will be no debit in the account. Employing this method, the gang had looted Rs 60 lakh in various ATMs in Chennai alone in three days (June 17, 18 and 19), using a single debit card. Now, a special team has nabbed one of the suspects in Mewat, Haryana and is quizzing him in Delhi, while a manhunt is on for the others.

Chennai (Tamil Nadu): Even as technology enhances crime detection, criminals too find a way to circumvent and carry on their profession. Using a single debit card, a quartet had looted SBI of over 60 Lakh from ATMs in 18 places in Chennai and in other places across the state. When it emerged that the gang had targeted only Cash Deposit machines, a rattled SBI immediately stopped dispensing cash through them and approached the police.

It was the Shenoy Nagar branch of SBI in the city which woke up first and filed a police complaint. The bank staff were puzzled when cash had been delivered, there was no debit recorded in the account. Scrutiny of CCTV footage revealed two youngsters taking money at that time. At Periamet near the Central Railway Station, a card was wiped 190 times and Rs 17 lakh swindled. Similar complaints came from other branches of SBI.

A delegation of top SBI officials from the Chennai Circle met the Commissioner of Police Shankar Jiwal to speed up the investigation. Following preliminary investigations, the police found that the quartet had looted money only from the Cash Deposit cum Withdrawal machines, leaving the normal machines. The Cash Deposit machines in SBI are made in Japan by OKI, a major supplier of cash dispensers. The machine has a sensor that is visible which enables the machine to debit the cash in the account. Once the cash is out, it has to be taken within 20 seconds otherwise, the machine takes the notes back. In all these fraudulent transactions, the gang members hold up the sensor and later take the cash, hood winking the machine that the cash had not been delivered and consequently, there won't be any debit in the account. And the 20 seconds is crucial. In the normal ATM machines, the sensor could not be hidden by anyone in this manner.

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Similar complaints have emerged from states like Gujarat and Maharashtra and it was found that gangs in Mewat were involved in such loot. Following examination of CCTV footage from the various ATMS where the crime was committed, the cops ascertained the identity of one among the quartet as a Haryanvi of Mewat and a special team was dispatched to nab the gang. While one of them had been arrested, the search is on for the absconding trio. Police haven't disclosed the identity of the arrested, who is being interrogated in Delhi.

This is the second time in recent time that the Tamil Nadu police had landed Haryana in search of criminal gangs. Earlier, a popular movie “Theeran Adhikaaram Ondru” (Hero - Chapter One) ofwas based on the cops successfully nabbing a criminal gang from the Pindaris, a criminal tribe. Reel came to be true in real life when the cops busted a criminal gang in Haryana. But, in the movie, while the Dy SP nabs the dreaded gangsters against all odds, the credit goes to his superiors.

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According to police, Mewat remains a den of criminals engaging in ATM robberies with 90 per cent of such crimes linked to gangs in this district. Elaborating further, police sources said, they train recruits and send them in teams one after the other, focusing on the southern states. A team which accomplished a task will go into hiding till it is given another assignment. “They have a team of lawyers, a team who are ready to surrender to divert and stymie the investigation and a support base where they live. Also, they have chiefs who award punishment for delinquents and those who violate the code of conduct. Before embarking on a robbery, they make a detailed plan. Even for the police, gaining entry into their area is not that easy,” the sources said.

Further police said, the modus operandi of the SBI ATM loot has the footprint of similar crimes which rocked Australia and Romania in 2013-14. According to sources, the SBI head office had on June 16 itself alerted its Chennai Circle about the novel fraud and to be vigilant. However, the Chennai circle was caught napping, the sources added.

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