ACME — Thieves are using a smashingly spectacular method to get at automated teller machines in banks and businesses in some communities northeast of Calgary.
RCMP say thieves smashed through a wall in the bank in Acme Saturday morning before ripping out an ATM loaded with thousands of dollars.
It was the second time in just over a month that the bank had been targeted.
Mounties say in early November, a stolen front-end loader was rammed through a bank wall in Linden, but the bank manager who was walking in the area scared off two masked men.
A stolen vehicle was also used in an attempt to get at an ATM in a bar and restaurant in Beiseker in late October.
Police have stepped up patrols in the region, but no one has been arrested and only one stolen ATM has been recovered so far.