07 April 2013| last updated at 12:19AM
Thieves break open petrol station ATM
By ELIZABETH ZACHARIAH | [email protected]
RM225,000, 40 BOXES OF CIGARETTES STOLEN: Welding torch used to cut open ATM's safe
The automated teller machine at a petrol station in USJ which was cut open by two thieves using a welding torch.
SUBANG JAYA: THIEVES escaped with RM225,000 after they broke open an automated teller machine (ATM) yesterday, the second incident here in three days.
In the latest case, they hit a petrol station at Persiaran Kewajipan in USJ 18. The thieves picked the lock of the glass door at the petrol station's convenience store and entered the premises at 2.58am.
They sprayed red paint on two closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and turned two other cameras away from the ATM. Another camera was left untouched. At 3.06am, the suspects entered the back room and cut the power supply and telephone lines.
It is believed that the suspects broke open the ATM's safe using a welding torch, based on the burn marks on the door. The suspects fled with four boxes containing RM225,000, along with 40 boxes of Dunhill cigarettes.
It is learnt that the bank had last filled the machine with RM395,000 on Thursday morning. Before that, the machine had not been working for two weeks. The theft was only noticed at 5am after a petrol station employee arrived to open the premises. The station operates from 6am to midnight.
District police chief Assistant Commissioner Yahaya Ramli said police had checked on the station three times yesterday, with the last visit at 1.50am.
"CCTV recordings, before it was tampered with, showed that at least two men were involved," he said, adding that the cameras did not capture the vehicle used by the thieves. The first thief wore a long-sleeved white shirt with gloves and ski mask while the other one wore a dark-coloured long-sleeved shirt with a blue full-faced helmet and gloves.
On Thursday, five thieves took less than 15 minutes to cart away an ATM containing RM230,000 from a bank in Putra Heights. However, Yahaya said police believed that the two cases were committed by different groups.
"The suspects, as seen in the recordings from both cases, did not have the same body shape and size," he said.
