Team Herald

PANJIM: A Hungarian national has been arrested for his involvement in ATM skimming fraud while his accomplice, a Romanian citizen is on the run.

Marejonar, aged 45, was arrested by the Porvorim police late Saturday night following accusations of tampering with the ATM, located near Chogm Road at Porvorim.

“He was found with another foreign national in the ATM Centre at Porvorim. They were tampering with the ATM which was caught on the CCTV cameras installed inside. The Canara Branch Manager and a handful of staff rushed at the spot to confront them and simultaneously informed the police,” said a senior police official. While Marejonar was caught, the co-conspirator managed to flee. The police have launched a massive search operation to nab him.

The Canara Bank officials across all branches, sources said, have been keeping a tab at the movement inside the ATM centres ever since over a dozen ATM users at Vasco complained of being victims of unauthorized cash deductions. Äfter the Vasco incident came to light on February 14, the bank officials conducted an internal inquiry. The CCTV footage from its ATM branch at Dabolim, two foreigners’ presence were found to be suspicious. They were identified following which all its branch offices were alerted. On Saturday, when the two accused tried to commit the same offence, they were caught,” said the official.

Following a complaint from the Canara Bank Manager in Porvorim S Prasad, the Porvorim police registered an offense against both the foreign nationals, who had come to Goa on tourist visa last month.

“We are investigating the case. He will be interrogated,” PSI Vishwajit Chodankar, who is investigating the offence, told Herald.

Sources said the two foreign nationals will also be probed for their involvement in other similar offenses across the State. While investigation is underway, the FRRO will be intimated about development.

In the last incident, Vasco police had registered a complaint against unknown fraudsters for allegedly installing skimmer and spy cam in the Dabolim branch of Canara Bank and captured all the details. Several thousand rupees were withdrawn from different accounts creating a panic among the ATM users.

It is learnt that Vasco police might seek the custody of the arrested accused for the offence registered at its police station.