Two men dressed in black and wearing ski masks attempted to break an ATM of a nationalised bank in Neelankarai after breaking the CCTV camera, during the wee hours of Wednesday.
The security guard of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) ATM, located near Kapaleeswarar Arch in Neelankarai, was not at the scene when the burglars struck.
The duo entered the ATM centre around 2 am, went straight to the CCTV camera and attempted to cover it. They also damaged it with a crow bar and successfully cut the cables running to the ATM and the CCTV camera to disarm the alarm system.
They then tried their best to break the outer case of the ATM. Even after two hours of struggle, the duo could only slightly open the outer cover.
They fled the spot when they heard a noise outside. Footage captured till the CCTV unit was damaged was handed over to the police to help identify the culprits.
The bid to break into the ATM came to light when one of the staff came to check the machine.
According to a senior police officer, the duo could have visited the ATM as regular users and could have withdrawn money during the wee hours. They would have noticed the absence of a security guard, which could have encouraged them to make a burglary bid.
Police said, the modus operandi showed that they were first-timers, since they could not even open the front cover completely.