A daring ATM heist, a car that seemed to vanish into thin air, and a 22-km chase kept police in two states busy early Friday.

Between 2:30 AM and 4 AM on September 27, a gang looted Rs 65 lakhs from three State Bank of India ATMs in Mapranam, Kolazhi, and Mannuthi in Thrissur district. They used a gas cutter to break open the ATM machines and spray paint to block the cameras.

Once alerted, the police began tracking CCTV footage to determine the gang’s route in their white Creta. The car was visible at several points along the Thrissur-Coimbatore highway until it vanished. Investigators noted a large container truck appearing in the footage at the same time, leading them to suspect that the robbers had hidden the Creta inside the container.

An emergency alert was issued to Tamil Nadu police, detailing the mysterious container and the missing Creta. Authorities across multiple districts in Tamil Nadu were instructed to closely monitor the highways.

According to a senior police officer involved in the operation in Namakkal, the search extended from Coimbatore to Krishnagiri, with thorough vehicle checks conducted in Tirupur, Salem, Namakkal, Krishnagiri, and Dharmapuri.

At around 9 AM, a police patrol team reported that a container truck had attempted to break through a police barricade at Komarapalayam in Namakkal. The police pursued the truck for 12 km before successfully bringing it to a halt. Inside, they discovered the white Creta, the stolen Rs 65 lakhs, and seven suspects.

"Five people, including the driver, were in the front cabin, while two others were inside the container with the car. They tried to attack the officers, and police had to fire back after stones were hurled at us, injuring two officers. The driver was killed, and another person was shot in the leg while attempting to escape. The remaining suspects were arrested and taken into custody. They are from Palwal, Haryana, and are part of a larger network responsible for similar ATM heists across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka. Their tools were simple—gas cutters, spray paint, and precise planning. The container truck is registered in Rajasthan and was reportedly rented from Bangalore," the officer stated.

A forensic team soon arrived at the scene to collect evidence from the truck. In addition to fingerprints, they found traces of the gas cutter and paint used to obscure ATM cameras, indicating the gang's familiarity with their methods.

"Similar robberies have been reported in Tiruvallur, Andhra Pradesh, and Hyderabad. The strategy has always been the same: the gang strikes in the early hours, masks the surveillance cameras, and flees with the money. Sometimes they even take the ATMs with them, cracking them open later in secluded areas," an officer explained.

The Thrissur robbery bore an uncanny resemblance to a theft that occurred just two months ago in Andhra Pradesh, where the gang stole nearly Rs 30 lakhs, employing the same tactics—renting container trucks, switching vehicles, and using spray paint to cover their tracks.