POLICE IN NORTHERN Ireland have arrested two men in Antrim after an ATM was stolen from a Tesco store yesterday.
The theft occurred just after 3am when a digger was used to rip the double ATM from the premises.
The machine was recovered just a few miles away about half an hour later. Police said two arrests have been made and one man remains in custody.
In a statement this afternoon, Detective Chief Inspector McCubbin said; “The men, aged 26 and 43, were arrested yesterday on suspicion of conspiracy to steal. The 43-year-old man was interviewed and released on police bail pending further enquiries.
“The 26-year-old man remains in police custody at this time,” the statement, which also called on members of the public with information to contact them, said.
Paul Michael, who was mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey until May this year, told the PA news agency that the incident was “an attack on the whole community”.
He continued: “The location of [the] ATMs did not just service Tesco shoppers, but the residents of the whole town.
Mr Michael said the Tesco supermarket was open for business.
In a statement, Detective Inspector Richard Thornton appealed to owners of heavy plant machinery to secure the vehicles properly to prevent such incidents in the future, and asked the public to be aware of diggers on the roads in the evening or middle of the night.
In November, a man was charged over an attempted ATM theft that caused the collapse of a petrol station roof in Ballynahinch, Co Down.
With reporting from PA.
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