Robbery Fail: Thieves Steal Empty ATM from a Casino

11:07
30 Jan

The crime is rarely funny, as it is usually vicious by the definition, but what happened in a Calgary casino must make you chuckle at least a bit. Two unknown robbers broke into the casino on Wednesday morning and were able to take off with an ATM. Usually, it would be a worthwhile criminal effort, but there was a little problem with their plan – the ATM was empty!

According to the police reports, two masked men have gained entry to the casino after smashing the glass door and headed straight for the ATM. They loaded the machine on to a dolly and transported it to their getaway vehicle, a silver minivan in all likelihood.

The robbers were, unfortunately, missing a key part of the information. Namely, the ATM was being moved to a different part of the casino and was completely empty. Their valiant efforts will, hence, not be as rewarding as they had hoped.

I’ve never heard of this happening at any of our other properties Vince Pao, new.nationalpost.com;
There were about ten security guards and cleaning staff present in the casino when the robbery had occurred, but nobody was injured. Vince Pao, the spokesperson for the company that owns and operates the casino, expressed his belief that this was an isolated incident adding that the company was not concerned about anything similar happening in the future.
Despite of Pao’s statement, this is just one of 13 similar robberies that have happened in the area since August last year. The interesting thing about these attempts is the fact that thieves were usually able to steal very little or no money at all.
The ATMs are usually emptied several times through the day and the robbers are not very likely to gain any significant monetary gain for all the efforts needed to both steal and open such a machine. Yet, for some reason, they refuse to stop.
Travis Baker from the Calgary police explained that, in many cases, thieves are not even able to move the machine, let alone open it and get whatever the cash may be in there. Sometimes, when the vehicle is used to force the entry, robbers even get stuck completely and have no way to get out.
The one thing that is not so funny about these attempts is the material damage done during the robberies. Business owners are often left with the damage ranging from several thousands to tens of thousands dollars.
In order to reduce the number of these attempts, the police urge local businesses with the ATMs to move them further away from the windows and doors so as not to tempt the thieves.
In the meantime, if you are on the market for an ATM, there should be a few floating around at affordable prices.

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