Berhampur: Two inter-state ATM looters were arrested by the police after locals caught the two and handed them over to the cops at Ramba in Odisha’s Ganjam district.
A total of 12 ATM cards and Rs 92,000 cash were seized from the looters, sources said.
The two have been identified as Harihar Reddy of Sitarampur village and Raghunath Reddy of Laxmipur village under the jurisdiction of Chamakhandi police station.
Adopting a novel modes operandi, the accused used to wait at ATMs for hours and look for gullible elderly persons to come to withdraw money. They offer help to aged people with weak vision. After withdrawal of money, the accused cleverly swap their original ATM cards with similar ones. Thereafter, they withdraw entire money from their bank accounts by using ATM cards.
However, the accused were caught by locals as they were moving away from an ATM after swapping cards on thursday. The two were handed over to the police.
Several loot cases are pending against the two accused persons at various police stations in and outside Ganjam district, police said.