Nashik: In the dead of night, a gang of burglars drove up to an ATM kiosk in Dhule’s Nardana town, blacked out its lone electronic eye, cut precisely into the machine’s cash compartment and disappeared with Rs 11 lakh before police responding to an automated alert could even reach the spot.
Police reached the ATM around 3.20am, barely minutes after the burglars had fled.
The burglars began by spraying paint on the kiosk’s CCTV camera, effectively blinding the surveillance system, according to police. Assistant inspector Sachin Kapadnis, of the Nardana police station, said, “The clean, systematic cut indicates the burglars possessed technical knowledge of the machine’s internal structure. “The gang may be linked to interstate criminal networks specialising in ATM heists, such as those from Haryana ,” police said.
They then used a gas cutter to make a targeted cut straight into the section housing the cash tray. The precision of the operation has led investigators to believe they were not dealing with ordinary thieves. Police are now probing possible links to interstate ATM-breaking syndicates. The incident has once again highlighted the vulnerability of unguarded ATM kiosks, where skilled gangs can exploit a narrow window of time, use specialised tools and escape long before responding officers arrive.