News
Irish firm creates digger-proof 'pod' to avert ATM thieves
October 21, 2019
Ireland has seen a rash of ATM attacks that involve crooks making off with a digger from a construction site and using it to essentially scoop a nearby ATM out of its retaining wall and placing it into a waiting getaway vehicle.
The attacks have torn up retail outlets and caused extensive disruption to the businesses they target.
Now a civil engineering firm in Dungiven, Ireland, has come up with a concept for a standalone concrete unit to avert such crooks.
Ideal Form Ltd. has built super-strong pod, which includes a 1-meter deep base, 2.5 tons of heavy steel and 25 cubic meters of concrete.
"In the event of an attack on the ATM, the integrity of the pod structure means it is unlikely that any attack will be successful," the firm told ATM Marketplace in an email.
One of the digger-proof pods has already been installed at O'Kane’s Filling Station, a location targeted by thieves outside Dungiven earlier this year.
In the early morning of April 7, thieves caused considerable damage to the building when they used a stolen digger to rip an ATM from the wall.
Sean McGlinchey, who works for Ideal Form, told Irish Times he got the idea for the pod when he visited the shop's owner after the robbery. McGlinchey is no stranger to violent attacks. He previously served 18 years in jail for his role in an IRA car bomb that claimed six lives in 1973.
He told Irish Times "It would take someone a day and a half with an 80-tonne digger and a rock hammer," to break into the ATM via the new structure.
