Thieves managed to convince a passing police car that they were refilling an ATM in Norwood rather than emptying it.
|||An ATM robbery in Norwood on Wednesday could have been foiled, but the thieves managed to convince a passing police car that they were refilling the cash machine rather than emptying it.
Several police units including the dog unit and private security companies cordoned off an entire block in Norwood’s Grant Avenue after the ATM machine was looted, but not damaged, by criminals.
When Standard Bank’s security was alerted electronically at about 2am that the machine had been emptied, they were shocked when they arrived to find that there had been no forced entry into the cash machine’s vaults. They found the safes left wide open and unbroken.
Norwood residents were convinced that the streets had been closed off because of an ATM bombing, and the Norwood police K9 unit was brought in, but they found no trace of explosives. There were also no signs of any equipment having been used to break open the ATM. The thieves were evidently not even bothered to close the vaults.
At 1am, two men and a woman in a Fidelity Security bakkie were seen parked near the ATM by police patrolling the area. Police say the three were loading containers of cash into their vehicle, and they stopped to ask what they were doing.
A Standard Bank security official who did not want to be named said police reported that they had believed the trio when they said they were refilling the machine.
No more questions were asked and the police drove off, it was reported.
“This was a missed opportunity. They could have stopped these guys but they didn’t investigate,” he said.
Standard Bank’s security company confirmed that when they arrived on the scene they discovered a large – but undisclosed – amount of cash missing and no suspects in sight.
Police suspect that the robbery may have been an inside job, with the ATM locks left open deliberately to allow the robbers to come and pick up the cash during the night.
However police spokesman Captain Philip Maganedisa would not comment on the allegations that police may have missed an opportunity to stop the crime.
He also would not speculate on the possibility of the suspects being linked either to the Fidelity Security Group or Standard Bank.
“The investigation will reveal who these suspects are,” he said.
This ATM has been hit three times in six months.
The Star