ATM fraud case: Two more Romanians held

MP | Kolkata: The Kolkata Police detained two more Romanians from Indore in connection with the ATM fraud case. 

So far, the Kolkata Police have arrested eight persons in this connection. On Wednesday, Customs officials caught a Romanian national named Nana, who was one of the masterminds behind the entire operation, from the Indo-Nepal border. 

He was later handed over to the Kolkata Police. 

Officers of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) interrogated Nana and came to know about two more Romanians, who were also allegedly involved in the racket.

Based on his information, the police conducted raids and detained the two more Romanians — Adrian and Karnel. This came as a major breakthrough for the Kolkata Police as the arrest of the members of the Romanian gang will help to check the cases of ATM fraud. 

The cops suspect that Adrian and Karnel were in constant touch with Nana, who was running the racket from Delhi. After the arrest of some members of the Romanian gang, Nana had realised that he would soon get caught. So he attempted to flee to Nepal to evade arrest.

It may be mentioned that the police suspect that there could be involvement of a person from another country in the racket. They are keeping a close watch at the situation and would take necessary moves as soon as they receive any information in this connection. 

In another major success, the Kolkata Police have got more significant leads about the operation of the gang. The police wanted to know the parameters on the basis of which they used to select the ATM counters to install skimming machines.

Sources said during interrogation, the arrested people have stated that they used to install skimming machines in the ATM counters which are situated in busy areas and where there is always rush. 

The police have also come to know that they used to target ATM counters mainly near hospitals, shopping malls and colleges as people in these areas are always in a hurry to withdraw money and hardly notice if any skimming machine is fitted or not. 

The police have also come to know the reason behind targeting Kolkata for withdrawing money unauthorisedly from various bank accounts after gathering details of debit cards. 

The investigating officers have learnt that Kolkata was the new destination to carry out the crime as such practices had already taken place in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.