Cops nab suspect in ATM break-in

An armored car guard has been arrested for stealing about 400,000 yuan ($65,600) from an automatic teller machine (ATM) in Pudong New Area, police said Thursday.

Police arrested a local man surnamed Shen, 28, who worked for Shanghai Tianlu Escort Co, after receiving a report about the theft around 4:30 pm Wednesday, according to a post on the Pudong New Area Public Security Bureau's microblog.

A masked man entered an Industrial and Commercial Bank of China ATM booth on Qingtong Road Tuesday night and damaged the surveillance cameras inside, according to local media reports.

Shanghai Television Station (STV) reported that there was a man who pretended to be making phone calls in the booth late Tuesday.

A security guard from a nearby residential neighborhood told the news portal xinmin.cn that police had examined the ATM Wednesday afternoon, and there were signs that it had been broken into.

The bank shut down the ATM Wednesday. A notice on the booth stated that the machine was temporarily out of order.

Police arrested a suspect in the case late Wednesday, STV reported.

Tianlu Escort, the suspect's employer, is one of the city's two major armored car services, according to the company's website. One of its core businesses is transporting cash for banks in the city.

It remains unclear if Shen's job allowed him to glean knowledge that would help someone break into an ATM.

Armored car guards are not supposed to watch when ATMs are refilled with cash, said a man surnamed Du, who used to work in the human resources department at Tianlu Escort.

"The guards are supposed to turn their backs to the machine when it is open. The company has strict rules against peeking inside the machine," he told the Global Times.

Du acknowledged that it is possible that armored car guards could learn more about the inner workings of an ATM if they decided to break the rules.

Shen also had a gambling problem and owed a large amount of debt, police said.

Du said that the company thoroughly investigates an applicant's background before it hires a guard.

"The company sends people to interview the applicant's neighbors and relatives to make sure that he or she does not have any bad habits, including gambling," Du said.