Robbers blow up two ATMs at Putatan bank, flee with cash

Five men, masked and armed with sharp objects, blew up two automated teller machines at a bank here early today and fled with a quantity of cash, police said.

Sabah CID chief Datuk Salehhuddin (rpt) Salehhuddin Abdul Rahman said they had held up the security guard at knife-point in the robbery at 4.20am and fled in a Perodua Viva car.

He said policemen on duty at a police post nearby rushed to the bank upon hearing the explosions.

"They found that the robbers had blown up two ATMs and taken with them a quantity of cash," he told reporters at the scene.

Salehhuddin said the police did not rule out the possibility that the same men had staged a robbery at an ATM in Membakut district in April.

He said police had set up a special team for the investigation and would conduct an 'Op Tutup' operation to trace the robbers.