A Latvian suspect in the First Commercial Bank ATM theft case offered his apologies to Taiwanese three times at a court hearing on Wednesday, but claimed that he had not intended to commit any crime as he thought he was only “picking something up.”
Andrejs Peregudovs and two others were indicted in September on charges of stealing more than NT$83 million (US$2.6 million) from First Commercial Bank ATMs in July.
Peregudovs was responsible for hiding NT$50 million in a locker at Taipei Railway Station on July 13, from where Romanian Mihail Colibaba and Moldovan Noklae Penkov took the cash three days later, police said.
All three, who have been detained since their arrest on July 17, were charged with fraud and offenses against computer security by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, which is seeking prison terms of 12 years.
At a court hearing last month, Peregudovs denied involvement with a criminal ring and admitted only to being in possession of stolen property.
He claimed that he owed an associate in Latvia 3,500 euros and had only agreed to travel to Taiwan to “pick something up” and deliver it to a third party after the lives of his wife and children were threatened.
At the Taipei District Court, Peregudovs requested that the judge take into consideration the dire situation which made him decide to travel to Taiwan.
Speaking through an interpreter, he said he wanted to apologize to Taiwanese and that he had also been a victim in the case.
Twenty-two suspects from six nations were involved in the ATM theft and the 19 who escaped have been placed on a wanted list, prosecutors said.
The heist occurred from July 9 to July 11, when members of the international crime ring stole NT$83.27 million from 41 First Commercial Bank ATMs in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taichung using malware to hack into the bank’s computer system.
The theft came to light when members of the public alerted police in Taipei after seeing two of the suspects collecting cash from an ATM in the middle of the night.
Police recovered NT$60.24 million of the stolen cash from the hotel room of Colibaba and Penkov.
Based on information provided by Peregudovs, police found a bag containing NT$12.63 million on a hill near Xihu Park in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) on July 20.
A man surnamed Ko (柯) handed police another bag containing NT$4.54 million that he discovered earlier that day on the same hill.
Nearly NT$5.79 million of the stolen cash is still unaccounted for.
Police suspect that the missing money was taken overseas by the other suspects who fled the country.
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