Theft bid: Country-made bomb explodes in ATM

KOCHI: In an attempted theft, a country-made bomb exploded inside an ATM kiosk at the State Bank of India (SBI) branch at Aluva on NH47 in the early hours of Sunday. The theft bid was foiled as the lockers inside the ATM remained intact. The outlet was charred in the explosion took place hardly 10km away from the Cochin International Airport Ltd (Cial), Nedumbassery.
According to police, the loot attempt could be a preplanned one. The explosion came to light after a police team on night patrol saw fumes coming out of the kiosk around 2.30am. Police said that the suspect has been caught in the CCTV cameras installed around the ATM.
“A man wearing helmet, jackets and hand gloves is seen entering the kiosk. He jammed the explosive, possibly a country-made bomb, in an empty space between the ATM machine and the wall of the counter. He ran out of the room after lighting the wick of the bomb. After a few seconds, the bomb exploded shattering the doors and charring the kiosk,” said V S Shaiju, Nedumbassery circle inspector.
Another camera installed outside the ATM counter has captured visuals of the suspect coming in a bike. However, the visuals are not clear due to lack of light. “There was no proper lighting in the area where the bank was located. The registration number of the twowheeler is not clear. But the video will be analysed further to trace the accused. The motorcycle seems to be a Pulsar-220,” said the officer.
Senior police officers, including state police chief Loknath Behera, Ernakulam range IG S Sreejith and Ernakulam rural SP P N Unnirajan, visited the spot. Police said a similar attempt to loot an ATM had taken place at Koratty in Thrissur a month ago. Around midnight on May 7, a masked man was caught in camera planting a countrymade bomb in the Koratty branch of the South Indian Bank.
“The miscreant couldn’t break open the ATM machine but the explosion had resulted in a minor fire. There was only one camera and it was inside the ATM. We are yet to trace the accused,” said Koratty sub-inspector Rajesh Kumar. “We have questioned a few people having explosive licence but were unable to find any leads. There is a need to create a special investigation team to probe such cases having similar modus operandi,”said Rajesh.