3 arrested 2 hours after armed ATM cash box heist
Three men were arrested in New Taipei City last night, just two hours after holding up security guards carrying an ATM cash box in a convenience store in Wugu District.
At around 5:00 pm, two men entered entered a High Life convenience store on Lingyun Road as two cash security guards were about to refill the Cathay United Bank Automatic Teller Machine. The men drew handguns, and ordered the guards to not move.
The men made away with more than NT$1 million, jumped into a waiting car, and headed in the direction of the Provincial Highway 64 expressway.
Police used their networked realtime license plate recognition system to track the suspects’ vehicle. After first going to Daxi District, Taoyuan City, the vehicle was traced to Sanxia District in New Taipei City.
Shortly after 7:00 pm, police from Sanxia District and Luzhou District intercepted the suspects at the intersection of Zhongzheng Road and Zhongyuan Street, and arrested the three men; a 46-year-old surnamed Lin (ę), a 21-year-old surnamed Liu (å), and a 16-year-old surnamed Hsiang (é ).
Police confiscated two modified pistols, and NT$1.24 million in cash.
According to the investigation so far, police say that the suspects had planned the robbery more than five days in advance. The ringleader is believed to be Liu. Liu allegedly used Google maps to choose the location of the robbery, finally selecting the targeted store due to its location near the expressway ramp for a quick getaway.
The suspects then kept the store under surveillance for several days, monitoring traffic conditions and what times the security guards would enter the store.
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