A group of thieves used a tractor with a large clam shell shovel as a battering ram to smash through the facade of the Dansk Bank building in Ringe on Funen last night.
They then used the shovel to get the ATM into what police describe as a silver/grey estate – possibly an Audi or Toyota.
Carefully planned
The investigation is continuing, but police said the robbery appeared to have been carefully planned. The crooks had even strewn caltrop anti-personnel spikes across the roadway near the scene of the robbery.
The damage to the property was so extensive that 11 residents had to be evacuated.
“Six people have been evacuated to a hotel, while others are with friends or acquaintances,” Hans Frederiksen from Funen Police told TV2 News.
Frederiksen said that no cars were damaged by the caltrop.
Several witnesses saw at least part of the robbery and police are examining the bank’s surveillance camera footage.
“We want to make sure it covered the scene and that the cameras are intact,” he said.
However, one witness reported seeing the thieves spray-paint the bank’s security cameras.
Witnesses
The robbery took place at about 2:25 this morning and was witnessed by several people attending a Christmas party across the street.
“We had to flee from the site,” party-goer Daniel Hansen told TV2 News. “I saw one of the thieves: a young guy in black clothes who looked me straight in the eyes.”
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