Police on Saturday busted an interstate gang of alleged cybercriminals when it arrested two persons in Gamharia police station area in the adjoining Seraikela-Kharsawan district, about 10km from here.

The arrested persons would allegedly steal cash from ATMs by prying open the machines using forceps after tampering with them. They would target ATMs without guards.

Those arrested were identified as Niranjan Kumar Nirala, 32, a resident of Sirsia in Giridih district, and Ravi Ranjan Kumar, 26, a resident of Jamuar in Gaya district of Bihar.

Two others, Laltu Kumar and Bipin Kumar, both residents of Gaya, also associated with the ATM heists, managed to escape.

The police have seized four cloned ATMs, five ATMs of various banks and four smartphones, besides a car.

Seraikela-Kharsawan superintendent of police Mohammed Arshi said that on July 27, Sandeep Kumar who works as a vigilance officer at Ujjivan Small Finance Bank had lodged an FIR with the Adityapur police station regarding a fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 5,000 from the bank’s ATM in Adityapur.

“The police obtained footage from a surveillance camera installed at the ATM. The footage showed three persons taking out cash from the machine using forceps. After getting their photographs, the officers alerted the Adityapur and Gamharia police,” Arshi said at a news conference.

Arshi said that on Friday night, a patrolling party spotted a white car with four persons near an ATM in Gamharia. The faces of three matched with those in the footage.

“As soon as the patrolling party passed on the information about the four suspected cybercriminals, a joint team from Adityapur and Gamharia police stations was constituted. The police team reached the spot, but could nab only two. Later, the police brought the two arrested persons to the Adityapur police station for interrogation. The duo confessed to their crimes and also divulged how they had been operating in Adityapur and Gamharia areas for the past three months,” said Arshi.

He said the criminals would target ATMs where no guards were posted. They used to fix the forceps near the cash dispenser clandestinely.

“When a customer tried to make a withdrawal at the ATM, the cash would not come out. After the customer left the ATM, they would enter and remove the forceps with the cash. Having taken out the cash, they would fix the forceps once again in the ATM and wait for the next customer,” Arshi said.

According to him, the criminals confessed to making such fraudulent withdrawals at Asansol and Purulia in Bengal and in a number of districts, including Seraikela-Kharsawan, in Jharkhand.

He said the police were trying to trace the two others who managed to escape. The arrested duo have been sent to Seraikela divisional jail after being produced before a judicial magistrate.