West Shore RCMP are investigating two recent crimes targeting ATMs at convenience stores.
In the first case, on Feb. 2, an employee reported a man running into a store on West Shore Parkway at about 5 a.m. and putting a tow wire around the ATM. The other end of the wire was attached to a white Ford F-150 truck.
The man then ran out of the store, jumped into the truck and tried to pull the ATM loose, but the wire snapped and the man drove off empty-handed.
The attempt was captured on surveillance video.
A similar incident on Feb. 9 saw two people break into a Happy Valley Road convenience store about 3:50 a.m. Surveillance video shows one of them hauling the ATM away.
“He basically puts it onto a dolly and wheels it out,” said West Shore RCMP Const. Nancy Saggar. “It’s quite a heavy machine.”
Police don’t yet know if the two incidents are linked.
“We do believe that there is that possibility and they could be related; however, we can’t say unequivocally that they are,” Saggar said.
One person in the second incident was wearing a baseball cap, a jacket and long pants, while the other wore a hoodie with the hood up, long pants, and a winter coat with a hood that might have been trimmed with fur.
Anyone with information is asked to call West Shore RCMP at 250-474-2264 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
