PHILADELPHIA – Philadelphia police are looking for thieves who have been breaking into automated teller machines using a blowtorch.
Chief Inspector William Colarulo says the thieves have struck ten times since January at sites all across the city. They have made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars. One site was even hit twice.
According to Colarulo, the ATMs were all in businesses located next to vacant lots or buildings. In each case, the thieves broke through a wall and once inside used an acetylene-type torch to burn a hole into the ATM.
Colarulo says in some cases, when the tampering has set off an alarm, the burglars appear to have waited for police to investigate and leave, then have gone back to finish the burglary.
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