The six-member Bangladeshi robber gang, which had allegedly made a vain bid to loot the SBI ATM on the National Highway-16, near Gannavaram, in the early hours of August 22, also planned to loot several ATM kiosks in Vijayawada.
Members of the gang had visited Vijayawada twice in 10 days, stayed for about a week at the railway station and went around the Pandit Nehru Bus Station (PNBS), Krishna district Superintendent of Police P. Joshua told The Hindu.
The gangsters had come form Howrah to Vijayawada on August 10. The kingpin, Randa Simon, and his associate, Mohammad Jahangir, had procured a cutter and other tools from a hardware shop in the One Town area of the city. They concealed the tool kit in the cloakroom of the PNBS, Mr. Joshua said.
“Simon, Jahangir, Shaik Nadeem, Saran Singh, Kokon Mullah and Badsha had conducted a recce in the Machavaram Down and Ramgopal Theatre areas. As people’s movement was large due to the Independence Day celebrations, they dropped their plan to loot the ATM kioks and went to Goa on the night of August 14,” Mr. Joshua said.
In Goa, they had allegedly committed thefts at two ATM kiosks of the HDFC and Canara Banks on August 15 night, and decamped with ₹15 lakh cash. Later, they had escaped to Karnataka. From there, they had come to Vijayawada on August 19 and kept a few more tools at the PNBS cloakroom, the police official said.
The following day, the gangsters went round several places in the city and its outskirts. After doing a recce at more than 15 ATM kiosks, they zeroed in on the SBI ATM at Gannavaram.
“However, an alert constable, Manindra, who was on night duty, prevented the robbery and chased the gang members. The police later arrested two of the gangsters, Nadeem and Jahangir,” the Superintendent of Police said.
