2 Romanian nationals arrested for ATM skimming after hot chase

MARGAO: In a major breakthrough, the Fatorda police on Wednesday arrested two Romanian nationals for their alleged involvement in skimming of ATM machines. The police managed to nab the accused after a sensational chase from Margao to Cortalim.

The two accused are now being questioned for their alleged involvement in stealing money from ATMs across the country. Police said that one of the accused was arrested at Verna while the second one was nabbed at Cortalim after the long chase.

South Goa Superintendent of Police Arvind Gawas said the police had laid a trap after the State Bank of India, Margao branch, received an alert that the bank’s ATM machine at Fatorda had been tampered with. The branch alerted the Fatorda branch staff, who found a skimmer attached to a camera. The branch staff immediately lodged a complaint with the Fatorda police. Gawas said that the accused, Emil Constantine (32), a poker dealer, and Daniel Paul, a carpenter by profession, had visited the ATM at the SGPDA market on the night of July 23 (Monday) and installed a skimmer along with a camera on the ATM. He further stated that they, however, returned on Tuesday morning, as the skimmer and the camera were not fitted properly. After attaching the skimmer properly to the ATM, the two escaped from the scene, said Gawas.

However, the ATM sent an alert to the main branch at Margao. Acting quickly, the manager of the branch alerted his counterpart at the Fatorda branch who rushed to the spot and found the skimmer attached and subsequently alerted the police.

Upon verifying the ATM, police decided to lay a trap and deployed four policemen in plain clothes around the ATM booth, confident that the culprits would return to collect the data. Gawas said that the accused returned in the evening and moved around suspiciously but did not enter the ATM booth and went away only to return back. This time they suspected that they were in for trouble, as they spotted the same vehicles around the ATM booth and tried to make good their escape. Police, however, managed to nab both of the accused after a long chase from Margao to Cortalim.

Following their arrest, the police also raided their rooms where they were staying and recovered some masks, mufflers and tools from their possession.

Gawas said that preliminary investigations have revealed that the two, who have come to Goa after a prolonged stay in Delhi, could be possibly involved in other such cases which are being investigated.

Replying to a question, Gawas said both the accused are in India on a valid visa, which is being looked into by the Vagator police. He said that the two have been remanded to two-day police custody for interrogation and have been booked under Sections 454, 457, and 380 R/w 511.

Gawas said that the duo could be a part of an international gang, which is involved in stealing money from ATM machines, as they have all the data stored with them. He said investigations are in progress.