Tuesday September 22, 2009
No duit raya for thieves
PETALING JAYA: While most Malaysians went on leave for the Hari Raya Aidilfitri festive break, thieves were busy at work trying to break open two Automated Teller Machines (ATM) and empty valuables at a goldsmith after gaining entry through a hole in the wall.
In all three cases, the thieves escaped empty-handed for their overtime “work”.
In the first incident, Selangor Deputy CID chief Asst Comm Khaw Kok Chin, said the CCTV in a bank in Putra Heights, Puchong, captured images of three suspects entering the premises at around 6.30am on Sunday before they sprayed the camera with red paint.
“The suspects then proceeded to place what is believed to be a home-made explosive on the ATM before blowing it up.
“However, there was a security guard inside the bank who heard the loud explosion and he triggered the alarm.”
He said the suspects, believed to be in their 30s, made a quick getaway, upon hearing the alarm.
According to the security guard identified only as Asli Ali, 43, he said he was shocked and terrified when he heard the loud explosion.
“After the initial shock, I realised that someone was trying to steal money from the ATM and quickly triggered the alarm. I also called the police and my security company.
“I could not see the suspects because of the smoke and dust after the explosion,” he added.
Police are also investigating another attempted ATM theft at Jalan Singa C20/C in Section 20, Shah Alam, which occurred about an hour earlier.
In that incident, it is believed that two suspects wearing crash helmets and using flashlights had taken advantage of the blackout in the area to try and break the ATM with a metal bar.
Sources said the thieves only managed to break through the top part of the machine in eight minutes before giving up. Police were only alerted of the matter after a member of the public stumbled upon the scene at around 8.20pm.
Police are not ruling out the possibility that both attempts, done within a space of an hour and just seven kilometers apart, could have been committed by one gang.
Meanwhile, in Pandan Jaya, Ampang, on Sunday, a group of thieves broke into a goldsmith through the back wall.
The thieves had cut a 1.2 metre-wide hole before entering the premises, but when they tried to cut the wires to the CCTV, the alarm was triggered.
A police car, patrolling the nearby area rushed to the scene after being alerted by the security company.
Ampang deputy OCPD Supt Amiruddin Jamaluddin confirmed the incident, adding that the attempted theft was likely to have involved more than one person.
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