Twelve arrests in suspected ATM ‘distraction thefts’

GARDAÍ in Dublin believe they may have cracked a gang of Romanian criminals who have targeted people queuing at ATM machines outside banks over the past few months.

Twelve people were arrested in a series of dawn raids on houses in Tallaght and the North Circular Road areas of the city yesterday morning.

They are suspected of being involved in “distraction” thefts, whereby unsuspecting members of the public are distracted by a trick that sees them robbed during the resulting confusion.