In a foiled attempt at ATM theft, three men were arrested in Dhandera Market on Thursday night after being caught red-handed by alert locals. The trio had reportedly attempted to steal cash using an iron strip trick but failed to retrieve the money.
The accused were identified as:
Salman Muntiyaz (28)
Jamal Hussain (24)
Aditya Pal (22)
All three are residents of Landaura town, near Roorkee.
According to police, the accused used an iron strip inserted into the ATM’s cash dispensing slot. The strip would block the cash from being released after a withdrawal. Once the customer left, thinking the machine had malfunctioned, the accused would return, remove the strip, and collect the trapped notes.
Locals noticed the suspects loitering inside the ATM kiosk for an unusually long time and became suspicious—especially since the same ATM had previously been reported for debiting money without dispensing it.
“They didn’t come out for a long time. Given earlier issues with this ATM, we intervened and called the police,” said Shivam Sharma, a local shopkeeper.
The police responded promptly and arrested the trio on the spot.
