Crashpoint: Police Seize Gang After Digger Used For ATM Robbery

A gang using building site diggers to smash their way into bank ATMs have been seized by police after two botched raids in near Madrid.

CCTV video footage released by police in Borox, Toledo province, shows the thieves battering through bank walls with the powerful excavators.

But in both raids which happened earlier this year, the gang fled empty-handed after failing to get away with the machines’ cash-filled stongboxes.

Police later seized five gang members linked to the raids and a series of other burglaries dating back two years, recovering stolen gold and jewellery worth EUR 150,000 (GBP 128,872).

In the first ATM raid at the end of May this year, the gang managed to batter their way into the bank but had to flee empty-handed when a witness called the police before they could get to the cash.

In a second attack that reportedly occurred two weeks later, they successfully wrenched the machine from the wall but abandoned it just a few metres down the road, the CCTV footage shows.

Civil Guard police say they retrieved the machine with its EUR 4,000  payload still intact.

Officers say the arrests cracked 23 unsolved criminal cases, including bank burglaries, home invasions, vehicle thefts, and drug trafficking.

Cops also seized EUR 2,000 cash from the suspects’ homes during the raids.

All five are in custody, waiting for a court appearance.

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