ATM’s, delivered armed and ready!
The extreme measure is the latest in South Africa’s escalating war against armed robbers who target banks and cash delivery vans. The number of cash machines blown up with explosives has risen from 54 in 2006 to 387 in 2007 and nearly 500 last year.
The technology uses cameras to detect people tampering with the card slots. Another machine then ejects pepper spray to stun the culprit while police response teams race to the scene.
The mechanism apparently triggered by accident the other day, immobilising three (!) technicians working on the thing, and then the happy little cloud floated on into the shopping mall where the ATM was situated.
Plans to install modified UZI’s was subsequently postponed…