Balasore: Industrial police of Balasore on Thursday busted a gang of ATM thieves by arresting two persons who were involved in at least 10 cases of ATM loot. The police seized Rs 76,300 cash and a motorbike from their possession.

The accused duo are Deepak Kumar Behera, 19, of Chheliapada village and Ajay Kumar Ghadei, 30, of Rasalpur village. They were booked under sections 457, 380 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code and were sent to jail after their bail pleas were rejected.

Inspector in charge of Industrial police station Paresh Rout said the accused duo were arrested when they had come to take their bike that they had abandoned after breaking open an ATM in Remuna and looting Rs 15,600.

The duo confessed to the police that they had learnt the art of breaking the bin while watching videos on YouTube.

"Often, the machines cannot dispense the entered amount for several reasons, including link failure. The non-dispensed currency notes go to the reject bin box. The culprits used to break open the bins and loot the currency notes stored there," said Rout.

"Deepak is the mastermind, while Ajay used to assist him. They have committed at least 10 such loots in ATMs of various banks and stolen about Rs 2.72 lakh," he said, adding that they were earlier caught by Tamil Nadu police for similar crime.

Deepak and Ajay had broke open an ATM at Remuna roundabout in the town on Wednesday night and decamped with Rs 15,600 in cash.

While leaving, they deserted their motorcycle after finding a police patrolling van in the area. The police were keeping a watch on the bike and the accused were caught when they came to pick up the motorcycle.

"The closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage of the bank ATM has also confirmed their activity," said Rout.