BALTIMORE — Over the last few weeks robbers have been breaking in stealing ATM machines and speeding away.
Making a buck to stay open during the pandemic is rough on small businesses.
While insurance should cover the cost of the ATM’s they’ve got broken doors the loss of peace of mind and customers who are nervous to come in.
Mo’s Seafood in Little Italy has been a staple in Baltimore for over 30 years.
Manager Hassan Rezi lit up when I asked him what makes Mo’s a special place.
“Crab cakes seafood, the best,” Rezi said. “Everybody knows Mo’s.”
Early Monday morning thieves targeted the restaurant on South President Street
Rez showed me surveillance video where you can see three men getting out of an Audi SUV checking the window, breaking in and stealing their ATM.
“I was very surprised, very surprised that they came in so fast and go,” said Rezi. “They looked like they knew what they were doing.”
Same situation but a week earlier at East Bexx Liquor over East.
Two men broke-in and muscled the machine out of the ground and put it in a vehicle.
In this surveillance video you can see them drive the wrong way to get away by what appears to be a Baltimore City Police vehicle.
Owner Santosh Boudel said the businesses look out for each other but wants to see more done to reduce crime.
“It is really difficult because if that kind of things happen the customers are not coming,” Boudel said. “They are scared to come inside so that’s why it really hampers us.”
We know of at least 3 other similar incidents happened within days of these robberies.
Police haven’t tied any of the incidents together but told me whenever there is criminal activity with similar methods of operation investigators look into connections.
“The good thing is we’ve never seen something like that before,” Rezi said. “This pandemic situation I think creates this kind of action.”
Police haven’t made any arrests for any of the ATM robberies.
If you know or heard anything you can leave an anonymous tip to help catch the people responsible.
