CCTV footage of the robbers leaving in their pickup after failing to crack the ATM.
The robbers made a good job of smashing up the Siam Commercial Bank machine, but were unable to get at the money inside it.
Thalang police were called at 4am to the scene at the Manik Pharmacy, near the entrance to Permsap Village.
Lt Suporn Meangkhai and his men arrived to find the ATM had been pulled five metres from the wall to which it had been attached. The damage suggested that a vehicle had been used to wrench it from the wall.
An attempt had been made to break open the safe inside the machine, probably using an arc-welder.
No one was at work and all nearby shops were closed at the time of the attempted robbery, and a nearby CCTV camera was pointing in the wrong direction to catch the action.
Officers were sent to check other cameras in the area and to canvass witnesses. They found one witness who said, “I saw a bronze-colour truck drive away but did not catch the make of the truck or the license number.”
They later found a nearby camera with footage showing the bronze-coloured pickup, which they identified as a Mitsubishi Strada – though the license number could not be deciphered.
Later, however, a witness on a motorbike came forward to say that he had seen the truck leaving the scene in a hurry, and told police the license number was either 4772 or 4778. He could not say what the letters of the license plate were.
Police believe that the robbers waited until after 2am, when a nearby karaoke bar closed for the night, to wrestle with the machine.
“They left in a hurry after several attempt to get the safe door open,” said a police officer.
Police were later able to confirm that no money was missing from the machine, which was last loaded with B3.5 million on Wednesday (January 14).
An employee of the company that refills ATMs, after looking at receipts left at the scene, confirmed that the B2.06 million left in the ATM was the correct amount.
Thalang and Phuket Town Police are working together on the case. They believe that three men were involved, and that they may have robbed ATMs before.
It is not the first time at ATM outside Manik Pharmacy has been attacked. Two thieves attempted to rob an ATM there in June last year but also failed to get the cash out of it.