VISAKHAPATNAM: The Vizag city police arrested three of a four-member inter-state gang for stealing (fraudulently withdrawing cash) money from the ATM kiosks of Kanakamahalakshmi Co-operative bank in the city and they have recovered Rs6.91 lakh cash, 12 kgs of dry ganja, three mobile phones and one bike from the gang.
The arrested persons have been identified as Saikul (25), Rasid (24) and Mustkeem (21), all were native of Bharatpur in Rajasthan and the absconding member of the gang was Sharukh.
Commissioner of Police, Ch Srikanth said that taking the advantage of the technical glitch at the ATMs of the bank, the gang fraudulently withdrew money to the tune of Rs9.5 lakh from the four ATMs.
The bank has ATM kiosks at various locations in Vizag city and the bank personnel have noticed mismatching of cash uploaded in the kiosks and cash dispatched from the machines. The preliminary enquiry by the staff has found that some unauthorised withdrawals of Rs9.5 lakh from four ATM kiosks and they have approached the Vizag police.
Our teams have inspected the ATMs and noticed that the ATM of the bank has an open power source fixed to the wall. Whereas at other bank ATMs, the power source boxes were either sealed or located in a separate room. Taking advantage of the technical glitch with open power sourced ATMs while the cash is being dispensed through the slot of the ATM, if the power is switched off by simultaneously holding the cash, then cash will be delivered but the same amount will not be debited from the account, Srikanth added.
The CCTV footage of suspicious transactions at the ATMs and surroundings leading to the clues. Investigation teams have conducted extensive searches and succeeded in locating three accused from Bharatpur and Alwar Districts of Rajasthan.
The investigation has revealed that the four members have formed a gang and posed as selling clothes to commit the crimes. Sharukh has shared the technical glitch in the ATMs and asked his team to commit offences. The gang has collected 78 debit cards of various banks from their relatives and friends in Bharatpur and Alwar districts of Rajasthan and Gurgaon of Haryana. The gang arrived at Vizag city by a flight on November 30 and they stayed at Anakapalle town. They searched for the ATMs with open power source and fraudulently withdrew money by using the debit cards and they withdrew Rs9.5 lakh from the four ATMs of the bank. We have managed to recover Rs6.9 lakh from the gang and have launched a manhunt for Sharukh, the police added.
