Rat destroys more than $25,000 in cash
IT WAS a cash machine heist with a difference: The attackers were hungry rodents.
At least one rat slipped through a hole in the back of an ATM in northeastern India and started eating. By the time it was finished, police say more than $A25,595 in bills were shredded.
When technicians arrived on 11 June to fix a broken State Bank of India cash machine in the town of Tinsukia they found a dead rat inside it and Indian currency notes worth nearly 1.3 million rupees, or a little over $25,000, chewed to shreds.
The rat had entered the ATM through a small hole for cables, police superintendent Mugdha Jyoti Mahanta said. The notes were in 500-rupee and 2,000-rupee denominations.
The ATM had been broken since May 20, officials said.
A State Bank of India official said the cash machine was overseen by another company.
“We are surprised at what has happened. An investigation has been ordered,� said the official, Bimal Debroy.
