Group breaks into market and blows up ATMs.
Criminals used a stolen car in an attack that lasted a minute.
Three bandits blew up two ATM machines inside a supermarket after using a car to break down the door early this morning. The supermarket is located on Avenida Carmela Thomeu, in Guarulhos, in the metropolitan region of São Paulo. Despite the explosion, the robbers were unable to open the machines and fled without taking anything.
Two security cameras captured the robbers' actions. They arrived in a black Voyage and accelerated the vehicle in reverse towards the metal door of the store. Two men got out, while the driver remained in the car, and placed explosives between the two cash registers. The criminals moved away and, after five seconds, the explosion occurred.
After verifying that the cash register safes were intact, the men got into the vehicle and fled without taking anything. The action lasted about a minute. Police officers from the 2nd Company of the 31st Battalion found the Voyage, reported stolen, on a street near the market. The case was forwarded to the 7th Police District.
The supermarket manager, who declined to be identified, said that other businesses had already requested the removal of ATMs for fear of robbery. "We left them because it's an additional service we offer to the public. We shouldn't let fear win, but things are difficult this way," the manager said.
The website www.estadao.com.br has already registered 86 cases of ATM robberies in the state of São Paulo during the early morning hours since the beginning of the year. In Guarulhos alone, there were 12. In 60 of these cases, the robbers used explosives, and in 32 the ATMs were inside a supermarket.