Robber loots Rs1.8mn from ATM in Karachi

KARACHI: A robber looted around Rs1.8 million from an automated teller machine (ATM) of a private bank in Karimabad area of the provincial capital in the wee hours of Wednesday.
According to police, the shrewd robber broke open part of the ATM that houses cash-loaded trays. He decamped with two of the three trays, having Rs1.8 million worth of currency notes while leaving the third one which had just Rs5,000 cash.
Reportedly the robber took five to six minutes to rob the ATM. The bank alarm did not go off and the management remained unaware for some time.
According to the bank’s management, no security guard was deployed at the bank at the time of the robbery.
“The unidentified accused took out the ATM tray of a private bank and fled,” said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ghulam Murtaza Tabassum. “The incident took place between four and five in the morning and further investigations are underway,” he further said.
Earlier on Sunday last, unidentified men hacked the system of an automated teller machine (ATM) at a bank in Peshawar to withdraw an amount of over Rs3.3 million. According to details, the accused used a laptop to hack the system of the ATM and withdrew an amount of Rs3,340,000 from it. “They successfully fled after skimming an ATM machine at a Peshawar bank,” the police said.
The manager of the bank while commenting on the entire episode said that although a private security guard was posted at the bank, however, he was sleeping when the incident occurred.
It is pertinent to mention here that the authorities have successfully unearthed such gangs in the past as the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) traced a similar group involved in the hacking of ATMs in Rawalpindi on September 25. – TLTP