NEW YORK - The brazen burglary of an ATM that was ripped out of a wall outside a Brooklyn cell-phone store may be connected to a series of similar thefts in Manhattan last month, police said.
According to a New York Daily News report, three thieves sliced through the anchors that were holding the ATM to a wall outside the store. They then loaded the machine into a van and fled just before midnight on July 2, police said.
"This was a clean robbery," said a law enforcement source, who said that it was probably carried out by burglars who knew what they were doing.
Detectives believe crime could be linked to the theft of 22 ATMs that have been stolen citywide since January, most of which were taken from midtown delis and convenience stores.
The other heists involved freestanding ATMs, not through-the-wall machines. The most recent thefts took place in late June, according to the Daily News.
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