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Professional thieves clean out James Bay cash machines

Police allege tens of thousands of dollars stolen from Belleville Street businesses

Victoria police say professional thieves stole tens of thousands of dollars in cash from two ATMS in James Bay in recent weeks.

Up to three thieves may be responsible for cleaning out an automated teller machine kept inside a Belleville Street hotel's stairwell at 1:48 a.m. on Christmas Eve (Dec. 24), John Ducker, Victoria's deputy police chief, said on the department's operations blog.

One suspect is described as a white male, 20 to 35 years old, wearing a dark baseball cap, dark pants, dark shoes and a dark jacket. The second suspect, also a male, wore a baseball cap, a hooded jacket, light-coloured pants and carried a backpack.

"There was possibly a third male involved in this incident as one man  appeared to have been standing look-out while the other two did their work inside," Ducker said.

Earlier, on Dec. 12, police say experienced thieves broke into a Belleville Street business and repositioned the security camera away from the ATM before allegedly taking a significant amount of cash.

"(The ATM) had been stocked up (with money) for the Christmas season," said VicPD spokesperson, Const. Mike Russell.

One suspect, briefly caught on video, is described as a white male of average height and built, wearing a greyish ball cap, white T-shirt and a black hooded sweatshirt with the word 'HARDIHOOD' in gothic white lettering. 

emccracken@vicnews.com