An armed gang had robbed an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) of a private bank in Gampola City by threatening the security officer at gunpoint and tying him to a chair at around 1 am yesterday.
Four masked robbers who arrived at the scene in a van had dismantled and removed the ATM of the private bank on the Kandy Road in Gampola.Two more private banks are located at the same place and their security officers had also been on duty at the time of the incident.
Gampola Police have managed to reveal vital information about the armed gang that broke into the location of the machines yesterday morning (24).
The bank’s security officer, who had managed to untie himself, had rung the emergency bell and had also noted down the vehicle number plate.Reacting to the siren, police officers of the Gampola Police Station had reached the bank. They have launched an investigation. It was stated that the ATM contained about Rs.8 million cash.
Later, the Police found the van used by the suspects abandoned at the Galaha junction in Peradeniya with its driver tied inside.Police had revealed that the suspects had hired the van for a ride online from Hemmathagama, Aranayake. The owner of the hiring company was summoned by the Police.
According to him, the suspects had blindfolded the driver, tied his hands, and dropped him off at a deserted place with one of their gang members. After committing the robbery, they had picked him up from the same spot and had abandoned him and the vehicle at the Galaha junction at around 5 am.
Police also arrested the driver who is a retired airman due to his contradictory statements.
A senior police officer said police had received vital evidence that he was involved in this robbery and the driver is a resident of Aranayaka.This van belongs to a police officer who served for a short time.
The driver had told the police that the first they went to Deltota area. He had told the police that two people got into the van there. Then, while returning from Deltota, he was dropped from the van, blindfolded . The van was hijacked and the people who came back after a long time put him in the van and left it on the highway with the van.
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