THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Hardly five days after some unidentified men made a robbery attempt at an SBI ATM counter at Kaithamukku, a yet another robbery attempt at the ATM of the same bank a few kilometres away shocked the city. This time the burglars attempted the ATM counter located on Attakulangara bypass road at East Fort.Interestingly, the attempt came to light only after the bank executive reached the kiosk to reload the cash around 4.45 pm. When the staff tried to open the cash chest, they found one of the nuts of the cash chest broken.
Immediately, they informed the Fort police. The Fort police have registered a case and a probe was initiated to trace the culprits. The forensic examination and finger print experts are expected to examine the counter on Tuesday. According to the police, the footage of the CCTV installed in the counter is yet to be verified in detail. “Prima facie, we did not see any suspicious men inside the ATM counter following a preliminary verification. However, there has been a robbery attempt. So efforts are on to trace the culprits,” said Ajichandran Nair, Fort CI.
Last week, the front door of an unmanned ATM counter of SBI at Kaithamukku was found broken.
Though the Vanchiyoor police had said they have received vital clues about the culprits, they are groping in the dark to trace the culprits. Though the culprits had cut the wire of CCTV camera inside the ATM and destroyed the computer screen of the machine, they could not siphon off the cash from the machine. The attempt came to light when locals found the front door of the ATM damaged. This is is the third robbery attempt in three months. Last month, an unguarded ATM at Muttathara was also struck by unidentified burglars.
However, in that case, too, they could not take the cash. In all the attempts, the police concluded the burglars were not professionals as they did not use gas cutters and other modern devices for the break-in attempt.The security system at the ATMs throughout the state has been interconnected to a centralised control room in Kochi. However, the police said due to some technical glitches at the centralised control room they could not spot the robbery attempt.