Dimapur: Dimapur police has so far arrested five persons allegedly involved in stealing Rs 25.85 lakh from an ATM booth at Half Nagarjan in Dimapur, Nagaland in the early hours of February 20.
Dimapur commissioner of police Kevithuto Sophie on Monday said two of them were arrested from Hojai in Assma’s Nagaon district, two from Bokajan in Karbi Anglong district, and one from Dimapur.
Four of the arrested have been identified as Sana Ullah (38) from Hojai, Amir Hussain (41) from Morigaon, Raja Deb (25) from Haflong and Harum Rashid (29) from Nagaon in Assam.
The authority did not reveal the name of the fifth arrested person.
Police recovered a sum of Rs 13,50,200 of the looted money from their possession.
Besides, police also seized a Swift Dzire car and a two-wheeler vehicle which they used to commit the theft. Police are trying to recover another Swift Dzire car used for the purpose, Sophie said.
The commissioner said immediately after the crime, a five-member SIT team, led by East Dimapur ACP Imkongsangba Jamir, was constituted to investigate the case.
During interrogation, the accused revealed that they used an oxygen LPG cutter to dismantle the ATM chamber. Soon after the loot, they all fled to Hojai.
He said, “The accused first attempted to loot the same ATM on February 13 but failed because of the malfunctioning of the gas pressure regulator. They then brought another gas pressure regulator from Nagaon on February 19 and looted the ATM in the wee hours of February 20 after spraying its CCTV cameras with black paint. They all masked their faces during the crime,” he added.
Following interrogations of the arrested, police found that the accused had looted three other ATMs earlier – one in Golaghat, one in Jorhat in Assam, and another in Meghalaya bordering Assam.
Sophie further said the gas cutter used to loot the ATM was reportedly thrown into the Dhansiri River at Full Nagarjan. He said the police tried to recover it with divers but failed.
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“We have requisitioned the SDRF personnel and they, along with police personnel, are trying to recover the gas cutter from the river,” Sophie said.
Interrogations revealed the arrested individuals had previously looted three ATMs: one in Golaghat, one in Jorhat, Assam, and another in the Assam-Meghalaya border region.
