Police are asking the public to be vigilant for suspicious activity that may be linked to robberies of cash machines from retail premises.
For example Nottinghamshire Police believe a theft of an ATM from the Sainsbury’s store in Bingham Lane, Cotgrave, at around 4am on Monday, August 7, may be linked to others similar across the region.
A telehandler stolen from East Bridgford outside Nottingham was used to smash a wall down and left at the scene before the cash machine was loaded on to a pick-up truck. A white Audi saloon car was also seen at the scene. The pick-up truck was found abandoned in a field in Kirby Bellars, Leicestershire.
Nottinghamshire Detective Sergeant Michael Broddell said the offence followed a similar pattern to other recent incidents and urged people to be aware and report anything that may seem suspicious, such as construction vehicles being driven around in the early hours.
He said: “These offences almost always take place in the early hours and involve the use of a telehandler, a pick-up truck to take the cash machine away and then what is often a performance car as the final getaway vehicle. The offenders almost always use ratchet straps to remove the cash machines which are often discarded in nearby fields.
“Once stolen, the cash machines are taken to secluded barns or similar where they are cut up using angle grinders. The offenders conduct reconnaissance to identify these premises prior to the offences. Even offences as minor as causing lock damage to gates may be an indication that offenders intend to use the location to hide vehicles or as a dumping site after the offence.”
He added that these offences have been taking place throughout the region recently but there was a distinctive focus along the Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire border.
Meanwhile Derbyshire Police have released CCTV footage of a gang stealing a cash machine from a supermarket in Hatton, south Derbyshire, in the small hours of August 3.
The footage shows the men arrive with a car, a 4X4 towing a trailer and a digger-type machine. They used the digger to drag the ATM from the wall and load it into the trailer before driving off, accompanied by the car.
Officers were sent to the scene immediately and one thief threw a metal bar at officers before the vehicles drove off. The digger, stolen from nearby Tutbury, was left at the scene. The 4×4, trailer and cash machine were found abandoned in Markfield, Leicestershire, days later.
And in Staffordshire, at around 3.10am on August 2, the Co-op store on Lichfield Road in the village of Kings Bromley was ram-raided by masked offenders using a stolen JCB digger, seeking to remove the cash machine from the outside wall. Police disturbed the offenders who made their escape in several waiting vehicles. The JCB, believed stolen from a farm in Netherseal in Derbyshire, was abandoned at the scene.
