ATM Robbery Bid Fails

In the third such incident in Northern Ireland in the last few days, thieves have again used a digger to try to steal a cash machine from outside a shop in Co Down.

The latest was reported at about 3.30am on Wednesday. The ATM in Ardglass had been removed from the wall but was left at the scene by the failed robbers.

A similar attempt was made in Moy, Co Tyrone, on Tuesday morning while a cash machine was successfully stolen from a petrol station on the outskirts of Warrenpoint on Sunday.

The Moy incident, which happened at about 4am on Tuesday, involved a gang of five or six men at a shop at Charlemont Street. The cash machine was slightly damaged, but the thieves left empty-handed.

Detectives believe the gang stole the digger from road works and also used a flatbed lorry. The digger was abandoned at the scene and the lorry was found at Granville.

On Sunday, six hooded men stole an ATM, containing a substantial amount of money, from a filling station at Upper Dromore Road in Warrenpoint - again around 3am.

They used a digger, which was parked nearby, to demolish the wall surrounding the machine.

Police believe the ATM was then loaded onto a white pick-up truck and driven away.

The digger used in Wednesday's attempted theft had been stolen from a nearby construction site.

Police have said they are not currently linking the three incidents, but said their investigations were at an early stage.

As a police special unit has been enjoying increasing success in targeting gangs intent on robbing security officers as they carry cash in and out of ATM bunkers during replenishment, the criminals have instead turned to physically removing the heavily fortified ATM safe from the alarmed bunkers.

The border areas were initially targeted as the thieves could escape into another jurisdiction, but more recently they have been operating in suburban areas - with a Post Office in Saintfield, Co Down, attacked over the past summer.

See: Latest ATM Ram-Raid Investigated

(BMcC/GK)