Three mechanics nabbed for blowing open ATM in RM300,000 heist

SHAH ALAM: Police have arrested three mechanics for allegedly blowing open an automated teller machine (ATM) before escaping with over RM300,000 in cash.

Selangor police chief Comm Datuk Hussein Omar Khan said following the incident on Feb 23, police conducted several raids in Kuang and Meru and arrested three men.

"Interrogations on the suspects led to their confession to the case on Feb 23 as well as two other cases in Meru in December 2020 and February last year.

"The mastermind for the group is a 43-year-old man who works as a mechanic in Kuang," he told reporters at the Selangor police headquarters on Thursday (March 2).

He said the suspects were believed to only target machines from one specific bank as the machines were not updated.

"The suspects are believed to have bored a hole in the machine and pumped it with oxy-acetylene gas.

"Once they pumped enough gas in the machine, they would ignite it in order to blow open the machine," he said, adding that the notes in the machine were believed to have been sprayed with ink during the incident.

Comm Hussein said when police arrested the suspects they were in the midst of cleaning the notes with bleach.

"We seized over RM202,400 in RM50 and RM100 notes which were being washed by the suspects.

"We also seized clothing which had ink smeared on them, believed to be used by the suspects during the incident, mobile phones and other items," he said, adding that the suspects have been remanded for seven days to assist with further investigations.

It was reported that it took five minutes for three robbers to blow open an automated teller machine (ATM) before escaping with over RM300,000 in cash.

The heist took place at a bank branch in Setia Alam early Thursday (Feb 23).

Police rushed to the scene after members of the public called the authorities.

One ATM was successfully opened while another was not.

Investigations indicated three suspects had entered the premises and the CCTV footage was obscured after they sprayed black paint on the cameras.

Forensics have determined the explosion was caused by gas pressure.

Losses have been estimated to be around RM409,000 including RM60,000 from damages to both ATM machines.