Kerala ATM robbery: Key Romanian suspect held in Mumbai

Thiruvananthapuram: A Romanian national, who along with two other foreigners is suspected to be involved in the hi-tech ATM robbery in which a number of people lost money here, has been arrested in Mumbai, police said on Wednesday. The accused, Gabriel Marian, whose pictures were released by the police here on Tuesday, was taken into custody by the Mumbai Police late Tuesday night. He identified two others involved in the crime as Bogdean Florian and Christian Victor. The fourth has not been identified. [caption id=“attachment_2946930” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The security camera image of Romanian national Gabriel Marian during the ATM fraud. PTI[/caption] A team of Kerala Police has left to Mumbai to take him into custody, a senior police official said. “The Mumbai Police will first produce him before a court there and only then we will get him in custody,” he told PTI. However, he did not divulge any further details. Kerala Police on Tuesday zeroed in on three foreign nationals, who are suspected to be the key players behind the hi-tech ATM robbery, and decided to seek Interpol’s help. The trio, found installing an electronic device inside an ATM kiosk of a public sector bank at Vellayambalam here, had been caught in the CCTV installed there. According to police, the three foreign nationals were from Romania and had come to India on 25 June and reached Kerala on 8 July. The three had come on tourist visas and had taken rooms in a hotel here for two days. Police also seized from the hotel two scooters and three helmets, suspected to have been used by the trio. The state police shared their photos and other available details with their counterparts in other states which led to the arrest of one among them, police said. So far, more than 20 people had lodged complaints saying money was withdrawn from their account. As per the preliminary assessment, about Rs 2.5 lakh had been lost, police said. It is suspected that the electronic device at the ATM counter enabled the fraudsters to collect the secret pin code and card details. Many of the customers who were duped came to know about the fraud after they received a text message on Monday, informing that money was withdrawn from their accounts. The police have urged all those who used their ATM card form this kiosk to change their pins and have also asked all the banks to ensure that their kiosks do not contain any external fixtures.