The ATM robbery took place at 3.30am on Friday morning at the My Bank ATM at Surfer’s Paradise surf store on Jalan By Pass Ngurah Rai Kedonganan, Jimbaran.
The two suspects, one of them a foreigner, managed to take Rp 500 million, and beat and tied up, and almost killed a security guard in the process. The unfortunate security guard, I Ketut Widi Widiantara, 35, was working alone at the time of the crime.
The robbery began when the men parked their Kijang Innova near the ATM at Surfer’s Paradise at around 3.30am. The foreigner entered the ATM room, he came out and approached the security guard. The man said that he had a problem with his ATM card.
Widiantara who has already worked as Surfer’s Paradise for seven years was already curious with the foreigner’s behaviour. He suggested to contact the customer service number that was attached to the ATM machine. But the foreigner kept asking him to help.
They then entered the ATM together. When they were both in, the guard was hit from behind. After the victim fell, the foreigner’s partner, who looked like an Indonesian citizen, got out of the car, joined him and beat the guard until he was unconscious. Then, the guard was tied up and his mouth plastered with duct tape. They then robbed the ATM and managed to take half a billion Rupiah.
The crime was discovered on Friday morning at around 6am. After My Bank received a report about ATM damage in the Surfer’s Paradise parking area they assigned an employee to check it. He was surprised to find the security guard was tied up and gasping for air on the floor of the ATM room.
The crime was reported to Kedonganan Village’s pecalang (local police), and then to the police. The police went to the crime scene and took the victim to Kasih Ibu Kedonganan Hospital to get medical treatment. The guard was already conscious, but was still weak, after being hit in the back head and could hardly breathe. “He was treated in Kasih Ibu Hospital,” the police said to nusabali.com on Friday.
According to the hospital report, the guard was lucky to be alive as there was only one nostril that was not plastered with duct tape by the perpetrators.
Based on CCTV footage, the suspects pried the ATM open using a crowbar. The suspects who used masks also cut the surveillance camera wires. Then they broke the glass to load the ATM into the car.
The Chief of Kuta Police, Commissioner I Wayan Sumara, told reporters that they had investigated the crime scene together with the Denpasar forensics team.
He said that one of the witnesses, a nasi jinggo seller, saw the entire incident. The witness was only 10 meters east of the ATM location, but the witness was afraid to approach the crime scene because there were five people standing there. They had a motorcycle and an Innova.
The police said that they had searched more locations to find more evidence. Besides having 10 witness statements police still don’t have much to go on. “We still cannot reveal the suspects identities,” police said to nusabali.com on Saturday.
Image: Robbery (www.insurancejournal.com)
