A

n ATM operated by state-owned lender BNI in East Jakarta was taken apart by robbers who made off with more than Rp 100 million (US$11,750) in cash.

BNI corporate secretary Putu B. Kresna said the robbery took place Saturday at 4.30 a.m. at an office complex in Pondok Kelapa

“We were alerted to the robbery after our command center discovered it had lost connection to an ATM in Pondok Kelapa,” he said.

Putu said the BNI command center dispatched technicians to check the ATM only to find that the machine has already been taken apart.

BNI has filed a report with the East Jakarta Police and expects investigators to use footage from CCTV cameras at the scene.

Police in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, who are handling the case, however, said the CCTV cameras were broken and no footage could be collected from them.

“The cameras weren’t working,” Duren Sawit Police chief Comr. Titik Setyowati said.

She added that the lack of footage made it difficult for police to gather evidence from the crime scene. “Only one of three CCTV cameras worked and footage from that camera was blurry because it was too far from the ATM that was robbed,” Titik said.

She said the ATM was an easy target for robbers as it was located near an exit in an office building that was accessible around the clock.

Last week, also in Pondok Kelapa, a BNI ATM at Dharma Persada University was unsuccessfully targeted by robbers.

The suspect in the case, a university student, was caught by a security guard before being able to take cash from the machine.

Saturday’s robbery marks the latest in a string of recent ATM heists.

In May, armed robbers made off with Rp 400 million in cash and a car belonging to PT Bank Central Asia (BCA) on Jl. Basuki Rahmat in East Jakarta.

Also in May, robbers broke into a minimarket in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, and stole Rp 99 million from a BNI ATM. In December last year, four armed robbers held hostage minimarket clerks and shoppers while taking apart an ATM containing Rp 600 million operated by state lender BRI. (awd)