ATM thief who stole half a million euros from four machines arrested in Zagreb

(Patria) - Zagreb police have arrested a 48-year-old ATM thief who stole 500,000 euros in a series of sophisticated burglaries of ATMs in Zagreb.

The investigation established that he had been on the run since 2021 and that an EU-wide warrant had been issued for his arrest, the Zagreb Police Directorate announced.

"Through months of criminal investigation, in cooperation with the Criminal Police Directorate and the Special and Intervention Police Unit, four criminal acts of aggravated theft by breaking into ATMs have been solved.

A 48-year-old robber was arrested who illegally acquired property gain in the amount of 500,000 euros," the Zagreb police announced.

He is suspected of breaking into four ATMs - at the end of January 2024 during the night in Zagreb in Marijana Radev Street; at the beginning of February around 4:30 a.m. in Andrija Žaja Street; at the end of April around 4:30 a.m. in Josip Strganac Street; and also at the end of April during the night on Rudeška Road.

The thief placed hidden cameras aimed at the ATM in the room where the ATMs were located, thus obtaining information about the time and method of filling the ATMs as well as the access codes for opening them.

"Using this, after the ATMs were filled with money, he would come to the room where the ATMs were located on an electric bicycle, unlock them and open them using a previously made key.

From the unlocked and opened ATM, he stole the full cash cassettes, after which he would properly close and lock both the ATMs and the room where they are located," the police stated.

He would leave the scene of the robbery on an electric bicycle towards an area in the Zagreb neighborhood of Trešnjevka, where he was hiding.

During the months-long criminal investigation, the police collected evidence and information indicating that the same person committed the aforementioned criminal acts.

The suspect was arrested in the Zagreb area. It was established that he had been on the run since 2021 because an EU-wide warrant had been issued for him, as well as warrants from Croatia's neighboring countries, due to his being sent to prison to serve a six-year sentence, precisely for previously committed sophisticated criminal acts of aggravated theft by breaking in.

Upon completion of the criminal investigation, the suspect was handed over to serve his prison sentence, and a criminal complaint will be filed with the competent Municipal State Attorney's Office in Zagreb.