Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/07/18
By: Chu Txe-wei and Lilian Wu
Taipei, July 18 (CNA) Taiwan’s police credited two civic-minded citizens and a dense network of
CNA file photo
surveillance cameras as playing important roles in helping them crack an international ring involved in the first ATM heist in Taiwan.
On Sunday, police arrested three East Europeans — Latvian Andrejs Peregudovs in Yilan County and Romanian Mihail Colibaba, and Moldovan Niklae Penkov in Taipei — believed to be part of the criminal gang that stole NT$83.27 million from 51 hacked ATMs at First Bank branches in Taipei, New Taipei and Taichung on July 9 and 10.
Taiwan authorities have retrieved about NT$60 million of the stolen money, much of it found Sunday night in the hotel room where Colibaba and Penkov were staying.
Peregudovs had put the money in a locker at the Taipei railway station on July 13, and Colibaba and Penkov picked it up on July 17 after arriving in Taiwan a day earlier, according to police. [FULL STORY]
