Vijayawada police crack SBI ATM robbery case, 6 held

Vijayawada police successfully cracked the SBI ATM robbery case where a 13-member gang from Haryana's Mewat looted over Rs 40 lakh from around 12 ATMs of the city. As many as 6 accused have been arrested while a hunt is on to nab the rest seven.

Vijayawada:Police in Andhra Pradesh have cracked the SBI ATM robbery case here and arrested six people out of a 13-member gang. A hunt is on to nab the rest seven members based on CCTV visuals.

Police apprehended Harish Khan, Abdullah Khan Nasim Ahmed and Farook in Vijayawada while Niyaz Mohammed and Vahid Khan were taken into custody in Haryana's Mewat. A police team from Andhra Pradesh was sent to Haryana and a trap was set up to nab the criminal. The accused were identified through other criminal cases registered against them. All of them have been remanded.

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As per police, the 13-member gang from Mewat used to collect private bank ATM cards from their friends and relative and use to target an unguarded SBI ATM.

"While withdrawing money from the SBI ATM, they used to disconnect the power of the machine and take out cash manually. The gang also shared the looted money with the ATM cardholders," police said.

If the power supply is interrupted during cash withdrawals at SBI ATMs, then the customer can withdraw cash manually. The department which monitors SBI ATMs immediately resume power connectivity without noticing the real cause behind power failure.

Police have held SBI officials' negligence responsible for the thefts. "From July 4 to August 21, 2020, the accused attempted 419 power failures at 12 ATMs and around Rs 41,50,500 has been looted by this gang," police added.

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