Taichung police have detained an armored truck security guard for allegedly stealing about NT$13 million (US$421,845) from ATMs that he was replenishing.
The suspect, surnamed Yao (姚), 41, had been working for a security firm in Taichung for more than six years, investigators said, adding that he was usually paired with another guard to escort armored trucks on cash delivery runs.
When Yao was detained in Nantou County’s Caotun Township (草屯) on Thursday last week, NT$8 million in cash was found in his backpack, police said.
Photo: Chang Jui-chen, Taipei Times
“We formed a task force to tackle this case after receiving calls from a security firm, which reported that one of its employees had stolen millions of New Taiwan dollars during armored truck delivery runs,” said Lin Hung-lin (林宏霖), deputy squad leader of an investigation unit at the Taichung Police Department’s Fourth Precinct.
Investigators working with the security firm found that Yao had been paired with a young new employee on delivery runs to automated teller machines (ATMs) at convenience stores across the city, Lin said.
“Yao would use various pretexts to divert the younger guard’s attention or ask him to do tasks elsewhere. When replenishing the ATMs, Yao would take some bills and put them into a tote bag. He did this several times over a two-week period last month,” Lin said.
The security firm allegedly did not know that money went missing. Only when the firm did an accounting check on March 21 did it find discrepancies totaling about NT$13 million, police said.
When asked to explain, Yao went into hiding, prompting the company to report him to police, they added.
After issuing bulletins and examining surveillance camera footage, police discovered that Yao was in Caotun and detained him in cooperation with local authorities.
Yao was later taken to the Taichung Prosecutors’ Office for questioning, during which he allegedly admitted to stealing money when replenishing ATMs.
Police quoted him as saying that he need the money to repay debts.
Although Yao said that he acted alone, prosecutors are continuing their investigation to determine where the rest of money went and if he had accomplices, police said.
A local court on Wednesday approved a request by prosecutors to detain Yao pending investigation, citing the likelihood of flight, collusion with others and tampering with evidence.
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