Silves Continente supermarket was the latest target of an ATM gang who stole two cash machines and destroyed a large section of the building’s façade in the process in the early hours of Monday.
Police say the gang stole a JCB digger from a local council yard and used it to destroy the supermarket’s façade and gain access to the cash machines, which were not embedded in a wall.
The amount of money the machines contained has not been revealed by the authorities, who suspect the gang behind this latest raid is the same that carried out 26 other cash machine crimes in the Algarve and the Alentejo in the last two years.
According to the national press, crime witnesses say they heard a loud noise coming from the vicinity at around 4am and when they went to investigate they saw “four or five men” stealing the cash machines, “all in eight minutes”.
The gang is described by police as being “highly organised” and using top of the range vehicles to escape the scene with the stolen machines.
The Polícia Judiciária are investigating the case.
In October, Apolónia supermarket in Galé was the target of ATM thefts while two months earlier a gang was thwarted in an attempt to steal an ATM machine from the Aquashow water park in Quarteira.
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