Police Arrest Key Suspect in Somangalam and Gummidipoondi ATM Heists

Tamil Nadu police on Tuesday arrested the kingpin of a gang involved in two ATM robberies in the Chennai suburbs, including a heist at Somangalam. The suspect, a native of Uttar Pradesh, was tracked down and apprehended in Jaipur, Rajasthan, by joint police teams from Tambaram and Thiruvallur.

The arrest follows two separate incidents last week where automated teller machines were cut open using welding equipment, leading to the theft of Rs 22 lakh. Police are currently searching for four additional members of the gang, with a special team dispatched to Haryana to carry out further arrests.

The first robbery took place on August 25 at Somangalam in Kanchipuram district, where the gang targeted an ICICI Bank ATM booth. Using a welding machine to slice open the cash machine, the culprits decamped with Rs 10 lakh. Two days later, on August 27, the group struck again at a private bank ATM on the bypass road in Gummidipoondi, stealing Rs 12 lakh using the same method.

In both instances, the suspects sprayed chemicals directly onto the CCTV cameras to conceal their faces and hinder identification. At the Somangalam booth, there was no security guard on duty, but the installed surveillance cameras were linked via the internet to the bank headquarters in Mumbai.

When the gang entered the Somangalam booth and attempted to break the machine, an alarm sounded at the Mumbai headquarters. Bank officials identified the ATM location and immediately alerted the Somangalam police station. However, responding personnel struggled to locate the exact booth, searching several areas before reaching the site. By the time officers arrived, the gang had already fled with the cash.

In Gummidipoondi, the targeted Axis Bank ATM is situated adjacent to an Indian Overseas Bank branch on the bypass road. That break-in came to light when a customer entered the booth to withdraw cash, discovered the damaged machine, and promptly alerted local police.

Investigators confirmed that coordinated efforts between the Tambaram and Thiruvallur police units led to the breakthrough in Rajasthan, while operations continue to track down the remaining four suspects in Haryana.