Police: Masked Robbers Hit 49 NYC Stores, Grabbing $40K from ATMs

(Breitbart) Robbers have targeted 49 New York City stores to steal ATM machines and get their hands on mountains of cash.

Police said three suspects hit stores in upper Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens between September 19 and December 26 to take money and other items, the New York Post reported Saturday. The group reportedly used boosted cars as getaway vehicles.

An image shows the suspects ripping an ATM from the floor of a business:

The news comes after the city suffered a five percent increase in shoplifting incidents, as reported on May 18. At one point in 2023, a New York City supermarket was forced to protect its $6 ice cream cartons with bolted plastic lids to prevent theft.

The recent Post article said the suspects stole almost $40,000 in cash from ATM machines during two instances in September. However, law enforcement was unable to share a total when it came to all of the ATM machines that were stolen during the robberies:

On Dec. 23, surveillance cameras captured two of the perps around 1:20 a.m. removing wires from an ATM inside a grocery store at 75-10 31st Ave. in Jackson Heights, Queens, according to video released by the NYPD Friday.

Cops are asking the public for any information about the three suspects involved in the citywide robbery pattern. Police have yet to make any arrests. Anyone with information regarding these incidents is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or, for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on X @NYPDTips.

The Singh family has owned one of the stores that was hit by the lightning-fast robbers for years, and it was the first time such a thing had happened to them, ABC 7 reported Friday.

The news comes as the Democrat-run city’s leaders are scrambling to fill positions within the police department because the number of candidates testing to become NYPD officers has reportedly dwindled in recent years, per Breitbart News.