GIMHAE — Two men in their 20s have been arrested and held in custody for breaking into a cash machine at a convenience store after scouting the location online and buying a crowbar in advance.
Gimhae Central Police Station in South Gyeongsang Province said on the 19th that it had detained the two, identified only as A and B, on theft and related charges.
The pair are accused of smashing a cash machine installed outside a convenience store with a crowbar and other tools at about 9:40 p.m. on Sept. 29, then fleeing with 5.7 million won ($4,000) in cash stored inside. Investigators found that B drove A to a spot near the store.
Police said the two searched online for a target location and checked the store's business hours before the crime. They bought the crowbar the previous day. Investigators believe the pair targeted the site because the area was deserted after the store closed and had little surveillance. Most of the stolen money was spent on entertainment and drinking, according to the investigation.
Police identified the suspects through on-site forensic work, closed-circuit television analysis and tracking of their movements. After obtaining arrest warrants, officers apprehended A on the 2nd of this month and B on the 7th, and both were subsequently placed in pretrial detention.
Police are conducting a two-month crackdown on robbery and theft from Sept. 1 through the 30th of this month. They said they would concentrate investigative resources from the earliest stage on theft involving damage to financial facilities such as cash machines, citing the scale of losses and the high risk of repeat offenses.
"Cash machines should be checked regularly so that an alarm sounds or a security company is notified immediately when something abnormal is detected," a police official said. "Please take particular care to shorten cash collection intervals so that large amounts of cash are not left in the machines."