Wynberg Main Road was blocked off between Maynard and Piers roads early this morning, July 7, after it was initially reported that a Nedbank ATM had been bombed.
Wynberg police closed off from Nedbank to Studio 88 and blocked off all access routes.
Wynberg Police spokesperson Lieutenant Ntombi Nqunqeka said they received information early this morning that a Nedbank ATM machine had been blown up but arriving on the scene they found that the machine had been vandalised by criminals attempting to steal money by placing glue in the money slot.
Lieutenant Nqunqeka said CCTV footage showed that suspects started tampering with the machine last night. She said they are known as the “Crime Generators” and that they used glue to make the money stick or get trapped as customers are making withdrawals from ATMs. “This might make them [the customer] think money was not available in the machine whereas it is stuck to the glue. An hour later they would return to see if there is any ‘catch’ – money,” she told the Bulletin.
She said the explosive unit was called in to examine if the ATM machine had been tampered with and found no explosives.
A resident said by late in the morning both ATMs were out of order and the one had pink spray on it and the police were taking fingerprints.
No arrests have been made and a case of malicious damage to property has been opened.