Owner bolted ATM down, but that didn’t prevent theft.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Two men have been arrested in connection to the recent theft of an entire ATM from an Exxon station in Dallas, Texas that they had successfully targeted in the very same way back in January.
The store’s victimized owner recently moved the money machine away from the front door, and bolted it down. But that did little to prevent it being absconded with a second time.
“We do what we can to prevent it,” said store owner Paul Sidhu, “that’s all we can do.”
A witness told NBC 5 he called 911 when he saw two people in a truck break into the Exxon gas station on the 2000 block of Fort Worth Avenue at about 3 a.m. and take the ATM.
According to CBS DFW:
An employee was inside of the convenience store when two men wearing masks used a hammer to smash the front glass. They then walked inside without saying a word. A third suspect was waiting outside in a pickup truck. One of the suspects wrapped a heavy chain around the location’s ATM, and the truck ripped the money machine out of the building.
The store’s worker hid in the freezer during the incident, and was not injured.
At about 4 a.m., residents of a neighborhood near the intersection of Muncie Avenue and Vilbig Road called 911 and reported suspicious activity. Police said they responded and found a truck with ATM in the bed in a nearby field.
Police said they subsequently pulled over a vehicle with two men inside, one of whom was detained while the other ran toward the neighborhood.
After police set up a perimeter and dispatched a helicopter to spotlight search the area, a K-9 unit tracked and found the man hiding under a house. Police have yet to release the names of the two men they arrested, while the third suspect is still at large.