Rats break into Indian ATM and eat cash worth £13,000
Shredded bank notes discovered after cash machine stops working in Assam state
Rats have eaten their way throughout more than 1m rupees of banknotes after entering a cash machine in north-east India.
Staff at the State Bank of India called technicians after the cash machine stopped working, according to Times of India.
District police superintendent Mugdhajyoti Dev Mahanta said bank officials checked the ATM last week only to find a “dead rat and shredded banknotes when it was opened”, The Guardian reports.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“The bank officials came to check the ATM machine last week and found a dead rat and shredded banknotes when it was opened,” the district police superintendent, Mugdhajyoti Dev Mahanta, said.
“We’ve checked and there is no other criminal or conspiracy angle to the incident. It looks like the rats entered the machine through a small opening for some wires.”
The rats munched through an estimated 1.2m rupees (£13,300), local media reported. Images showed an upended ATM filled with shredded 500 and 2,000 rupee notes.
Police official Prakash Sonowal said that the machine had been out of action for about 12 days.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The bank “may have not found the incident funny but Twitter users definitely did”, says Metro. One amused Twitter user wrote: “Surgical strike by mice on ATM machine”. Another added: “Looks like the mice are having a demonetisation of their own”.
-
Lazarus: Harlan Coben’s ‘embarrassingly compelling’ thrillerThe Week Recommends Bill Nighy and Sam Claflin play father-and-son psychiatrists in this ‘precision-engineered’ crime drama
-
Dutch center-left rises in election as far-right fallsSpeed Read The country’s other parties have ruled against forming a coalition
-
The Rose Field: a ‘nail-biting’ end to The Book of Dust seriesThe Week Recommends Philip Pullman’s superb new novel brings the trilogy to a ‘fitting’ conclusion
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Will Starmer’s India visit herald blossoming new relations?Today's Big Question Despite a few ‘awkward undertones’, the prime minister’s trip shows signs of solidifying trade relations
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdownIN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
-
'Axis of upheaval': will China summit cement new world order?Today's Big Question Xi calls on anti-US alliance to cooperate in new China-led global system – but fault lines remain
-
A private zoo run by Asia's richest family is facing criticism and investigationsUnder the radar The zoo is owned by Anant Ambani, the son of Asia's richest person
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American citiesUnder the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
Delhi's dogs earn Supreme Court reprieveIN THE SPOTLIGHT After an outcry from the public and animal rights activists, India's Supreme Court walks back a controversial plan to round the city's stray dog population into shelters