Edmonton police are investigating after suspects broke into a north side bingo hall, and dragged an ATM out the front door.
The break-in and theft happened at about 5 a.m. Tuesday morning – surveillance footage shows three individuals breaking into the Castledowns Bingo, on 137 Avenue.
The suspects wore coveralls in the break-in, they used hammers to smash out glass in the front door, before wrapping a rope around the ATM and using a truck to pull it out – the whole theft took a few minutes.
CTV News has learned this is the second time the bingo hall has been targeted by thieves in recent years. In November, 2016, suspects attempted to steal the ATM, but were not successful.
“It’s scary,” owner Jeff Paches said. “It’s happening too often, and it’s really hurting us, as a business owner trying to operate for charity when you get professionals coming in and doing this.”
The ATM stolen Tuesday morning was bolted to the floor. Paches estimated damage to be about $100,000. It’s unclear how much money was inside the ATM at the time, the hall had closed at midnight.
Police told CTV News there have been a number of similar thefts in recent weeks.
“Right now we’re just looking to see if any of them are linked, but currently we don’t have any suspects in custody,” EPS spokesperson Cheryl Sheppard said.
With files from David Ewasuk
