On February 4 as Sri Lanka’s Independence Day was being celebrated an ATM machine belonging to a State bank in Gattuwana junction in Kurunegala was robbed along with the Rs. 9 million in it. The bank was made aware of the robbery only the next day by the company that provides ATM services to it.
A police complaint was duly lodged by the manager of the bank’s Maliyadeva branch. In it, he claimed the robbers had drilled into the ATM and even made away with the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) of the CCTV units.
Robbers
Following the complaint, the team of officers from the Kurunegala police led by its OIC CI Chamath Kobbewala visited the site. The robbers it appeared had used a grinder to get into the ATM machine in an isolated spot. However, it also seemed that the thieves had left all the Rs. 100 notes in the ATM and instead chose to take notes of higher value instead. Therefore, left was Rs. 300,000.
During the investigations, the police team received a tip-off from a three-wheeler driver in the three-wheeler stand in the vicinity of the bank. He tells them on the morning of the robbery, a lone man had arrived and carried out a repair on the ATM machine. According to the police, the robbery had been carried out by this person in the guise of carrying out some maintenance work on the machine. To keep people away he had even put up a sign claiming that a repair was underway.
Though no CCTV images from the bank existed, the police obtained CCTV footage from other businesses in the area. In one footage, a man carrying a backpack is observed entering the ATM vestibule around 9 am on the day only to leave it two hours later. Investigators also observed that many members of the public had attempted to withdraw money from the ATM and turned away after seeing the supposed maintenance work being carried out. Among them was a police officer of the Kurunegala police Traffic Division.
The investigators also noted that the man came out of the ATM vestibule one and a half hours after entering to purchase a new blade for the grinder. Taking a three-wheeler from the stand nearby he is seen visiting a shop where he purchased six blades. This was confirmed to the investigators by the relevant three-wheeler driver. It was observed he emerged yet again after 30 minutes with the bag which the police now believe contained Rs. 9 million stolen from the bank at the time.
The police discovered he had reached Gattuwana in a bus plying to Kandy and had headed to Kurunegala in a three-wheeler after committing the criminal act. The driver tells the police the man alighted from the taxi in Kurunegala town. More CCTV footage perused shows the suspect had visited a spa in the town. Having spent over an hour there, he is next seen getting onto a bus and leaving the town.
The police visiting the spa are told he obtained the services of a female massage therapist at the establishment and paid Rs. 5,000 to the young woman. The suspect had even been brazen enough to give his mobile number in the hopes of meeting yet again.
They also manage to obtain a clear image of the man through the CCTV at the spa, giving them a first glimpse of the ATM robber.
They discovered he was the key suspect in the Rs. 7.6 million Minneriya ATM robbery which took place in September 2021 Identified as Vidusha Indunil Adhikari alias ATM Suddha. The suspect had used the same method to break into the ATM as he had in Kurunegala. Though he had attempted to rob an ATM in Anuradhapura and another previously, the attempt had failed.
The Anuradhapura police crime branch was able to nab Adhikari and his cohorts along with the many items he had purchased from the stolen money including vehicles and home appliances. He was imprisoned for his actions where the name ‘ATM Suddha’ is coined by his fellow inmates.
But in March 2022, he managed to escape from the Polonnaruwa Hospital where he was receiving treatment while still, an inmate and once again commenced his criminal activities.
Eppawala
The suspect is said to have been born on January 11, 1991. He had studied at a central college in Eppawala up to his ordinary-level examination and then followed an electrical engineering course. Completing this course in 2007, he had commenced working as a JCB driver for a construction company in 2011.
Following this in 2015 he joined a leading security firm in the country as a driver. The firm undertook the collection of funds from CDM machines and loading cash into ATM machines while also providing regular maintenance services. Driving a vehicle transporting the staff of the firm, Suddha was able to gain vast knowledge about ATM machines and their processes.
In 2016, Suddha lost his job at the firm after stealing Rs. 6.6 million from it. Nabbed by the police due to pure chance, he admits to his crime receiving a suspended five-year prison sentence. Attempting to start his own business after the incident, the Covid pandemic however had dealt a death blow to his plans. As the threat of Covid subsided Suddha returned to his criminal way of life by attempting to rob a State bank ATM in Anuradhapura. But failing, he later gathers a group of friends to successfully rob the ATM in Minneriya. He is also accused of robbing an ATM in Bingiriya after escaping from the clutches of prison officials in Polonnaruwa.
Following the robbery in Kurunegala, the police eventually managed to arrest Suddha from a house in Bingiriya. He tells the police he chose to leave the Rs. 100 notes behind as he could not pack them into the backpack brought along with him. He also claims he lost Rs. 1.5 million of the stolen money to gambling and purchased gold jewellery for his partner as well as a high-end mobile phone and motorcycle for himself. Part of the money he had used to settle a debt of Rs. 550,000. Police said at time of arrest, Suddha was only in possession of Rs. 4.6 million from the stolen money after spending the rest.