Border ATM Robbery Condemned

Gangsters have returned to their original area of operation with the thieves using a digger to steal a bank automated teller machine (ATM) from a bank along the poorly policed border area.

Taking advantage of apparent 'slow responses' from the PSNI who are understandably wary of 999 calls to the border area where republican dissidents have their heartland, they hit an ATM in Crossmaglen on Saturday.

The police said that it happened at about 6am and was the 23rd such incident in NI where an entire cash machine – containing as much as £140,000 – was literally ripped from the wall.

Such incidents began along the Irish border over a year ago, with the criminals more recently targeting ATMs in suburban areas, such as Templepatrick, Co Antrim before Christmas.

In south Armagh, they once again used a digger to pull a cash machine from the wall - this time at the Bank of Ireland at The Square.

The thieves burned the digger as well as a tractor and trailer used to transport it to the bank, and left the vehicles to block any belated PSNI response.

SDLP councillor Geraldine Donnelly said on Sunday that it appeared the vehicles were used to block access from the nearby police station in the south Armagh village.

The tractor used in the robbery was abandoned near the police station

"I'd imagine they were blocking the police from attempting to come to the scene - it was a way of making sure they had a clear run."

She also said the people and businesses of Crossmaglen area are facing huge inconvenience following the robbery: "The nearest on-street ATM available at all hours is now in Newry and that's a 32-mile round trip. It is going to have a huge negative impact on businesses here, not to mention the sheer inconvenience for ordinary residents."

A Sinn Féin councillor, Terry Hearty has also been commenting and has questioned the police's response.

"People have been talking about incompetence, that they are not interested," he said.

Police said they were committed to ending ATM robberies and were following a number of lines of inquiry.

Police believe the digger and tractor were stolen on Thursday night in Ardee, Co Louth.

Detectives in Newry have appealed for anyone who saw the green John Deere tractor or orange Fiat Hitachi track digger to contact them.

A reward of up to £25,000 has been offered for anyone who can help catch the criminals targeting cash machines in Northern Ireland. The money has been offered by Link, the operator of the UK's cash machine network.

See: ATM Robbers Hunted

(BMcC/GK)