Team Herald
MARGAO: Fatorda Police arrested two Romanians who had fitted a skimmer to an ATM machine of State Bank of India situated at the Osia Commercial Arcade at Margao and succeeded in getting two days custody also. The duo was nabbed within 12 hours of registering the complaint.
SBI Manager on Tuesday complained to the police that two foreigners wearing masks to cover their faces had entered the Bank’s ATM machine at Osia Commercial Arcade and fitted a skimmer to the machine which action was recorded on the CCTV camera.
The camera image showed one person doing something to the ATM machine panel while the other was just looking at the action. However, both their faces could not be seen as they were covered. Accordingly police personnel were kept at the ATM machine to look out for people coming there.
Last night at around 11.30 two foreigners came near the ATM machine and as the police stopped them to question them, they both fled and got into their cars and sped away towards Panjim. Police followed them and also alerted their counterparts ahead to stop the two vehicles.
However, the chasing police caught one of them at the Titan junction while the other was nabbed at Cortalim junction. The two arrested are 38-year-old Paul Daniel and 33-year-old Emil Serbu wo were living at Anjuna for the last two months.
They had apparently arrived in India three months back and lived in Delhi for a month before coming to Goa. “We are checking all the details including which hotels they lived in at Goa and even if their Foreigners Registration Form was submitted to the Foreigners Registration Office,” said Police Inspector Navlesh Desai.
Police have recovered the skimming equipment that includes the curved panel fitted with a camera on one side and chips to record the information on the other side and also the device used to copy the ATM card details.
Navlesh said they have not yet received information about how much money the two have fraudulently withdrawn by using the skimmer and said they would wait for further information from the police. He said that the duo confessed to fitting the skimmer to this machine and said the police will interrogate and find out if similar things were done to other machines.
He said the police were checking the mobile phones of the two to find out whether they are a part of a gang or are operating independently. They have been booked under Sections 511, 380, 420, 450(iv) and 450(vii) of the Indian Penal Code for cheating, theft and housebreaking to commit an offence.
