A burglar alarm inside an ATM kiosk foiled a robbery attempt by masked men, who were trying to prise open the machine, early on Saturday.

The robbery attempt took place inside an unguarded nationalised bank ATM kiosk on Diamond Harbour Road near St Thomas’ Boys’ School in Watgunge around 2am.

Police said as soon as the robbers had struck and tried to prise open the machine, the burglar alarm fitted in the kiosk went off, simultaneously generating an alert at the bank’s head office on Brabourne Road around 6km from the kiosk.

The bank alerted the city police headquarters in Lalbazar, which in turn alerted Watgunge police station.

A sergeant reached the spot and found the lights of the kiosk switched off and some tools lying on the floor.

“It is apparent that the men fled as soon as the burg-lar alarm went off. They must have panicked and left their tools in the kiosk,” said an officer of Watgunge police station.

The police said they were in the process of scanning the CCTV footage obtained from the kiosk.

A few weeks ago, at least two more such attempts had been reported — one in the Hare Street police station area and another in Burtolla.

The CCTV footage had captured images of men in masks which proved a hurdle in identifying the robbers.