Tamil Nadu: ATM robbers who used gas cutters to break into machines nabbed

A gang of robbers was nabbed in Tamil Nadu after they robbed three SBI ATMs in neighbouring Kerala's Thrissur using gas cutters early on Friday.

In Short

• Gang robs around Rs 65 lakh from three ATMs in Kerala’s Thrissur
• Escapees to Tamil Nadu in their container truck
• Tamil Nadu police catch them in Namakkal after shootout

A gang of ATM robbers who used gas cutters to carry out their heists was caught by the police in Tamil Nadu following a shootout in which one suspect was killed and an officer was injured. According to the police, the gang had robbed around Rs 65 lakh from three ATMs in Kerala’s Thrissur district and was driving in a container truck towards Namakkal in Tamil Nadu.

There, local police, alerted by their counterparts in Kerala, intercepted the vehicle, leading to the shootout in which one of the robbers was killed. The police arrested the remaining robbers and seized the truck, which contained the looted cash and a white car that they suspect was used by the gang to carry out the ATM robberies.

According to the police, the four-member gang carried out heists at three ATM centres, all belonging to the State Bank of India (SBI), between 2 am and 4 am on Friday. The ATMs were located within a 25-km radius in Thrissur district.

Wearing masks, the gang first targeted an ATM at the Mapranam Block junction, where they sprayed black paint on the CCTV camera and broke open the machine using gas cutters to steal the money.

The thieves then moved on to an ATM at Naikkanal Shornur Road, robbing it in the same manner before hitting the third ATM at Kolazhy. Police have confirmed that all three ATM centres were robbed by the same gang.

The police were alerted while the gang was robbing the Naikkanal Shornur Road ATM, but the gang had escaped by the time the police reached there. Following this, the local police issued an alert to nearby Palakkad district in Kerala, as well as Coimbatore, Krishnagiri and Salem in Tamil Nadu.

After robbing the third ATM, they drove towards Tamil Nadu’s Namakkal in a container truck. There they were finally apprehended by the police following the shootout.

It is suspected that the gang may be involved in several previous robberies of ATMs in both Kerala and Tamil Nadu in which a similar modus operandi of using gas cutters to open the machines was followed.