No cash for ATM machine thieves

A CRIMINAL gang left empty-handed after an attempted robbery on an ATM machine in Carlow yesterday.

The latest in a series of attacks on cash dispensers in the Leinster area over the past few months took place in the early hours of yesterday morning at Borris, Co Carlow.

An unknown number of raiders managed to make off with the ATM machine belonging to the Bank of Ireland branch on Main Street, Borris, around 3am.

However, they were forced to abandon the equipment before removing its contents.

Local gardaí were investigating reports that a JCB had been stolen from a nearby building site at the time of the incident.

The thieves succeeded in removing the cash dispenser from the wall of the bank but abandoned the JCB at the scene after the alarm was raised by local residents.

Gardaí discovered the abandoned ATM machine on the back of a trailer a short distance away on a back road just outside Borris.

They confirmed that no cash had been taken from the machine, believed to have contained at least €50,000.

A forensic examination of the street outside the bank was underway yesterday after the scene had been preserved overnight.

Gardaí are also looking to trace a white Subaru car, which was sighted around Borris at the time.

A patrol car chased a vehicle but lost of it during a high-speed pursuit through roads in Co Carlow.

Detectives believe a second vehicle was also used by the gang to pull the trailer which carried the ATM.

They have appealed for anyone with information to contact their local garda station.

Officers working as part of Garda Operation Delivery will also examine the details of the latest attempted robbery on an ATM machine.

The special team of 25 detectives from the Nation Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Garda Emergency Response Unit based at Harcourt Square, Dublin, was established last month after over €2m was stolen in a series of raids on ATMs and security vans delivering money to cash dispensing machines since January.

Gardaí believe a number of Dublin-based criminal gangs are behind most of the armed robberies, although a rural-based gang with links to the Travelling community is suspected of involvement in some incidents.

Eight people were arrested in Dublin last month as part of the investigation. One was charged with robbery while a file on the others has been forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

In a similar incident last week, criminals also failed to steal any money after removing a machine from the wall of the Bank of Ireland building in Taghmon, Co Wexford.