Gardaí in Co Wexford are investigating a second ATM raid in four weeks after an attempted robbery at a rural bank over the weekend.
The latest raid occurred at the Bank of Ireland branch in Taghmon, about 10 miles from Wexford town, during the early hours of Saturday The thieves left empty-handed.
The botched theft occurred at around 4.20 a.m. on Saturday when three men, believed to be locals, used a JCB stolen from a construction site in Sinnottstown, near Drinagh, to rip the ATM from the bank.
The men in their 20s fled when the hydraulic system of the digger failed leaving a trail of oil and the ATM buried beneath a heap of rubble. The thieves left behind an estimated €200,000.
It is the third raid on an ATM in the south-east and the second in Co Wexford in a month, four weeks after thieves made their getaway with €140,000 from the Bank of Ireland branch in Rosslare. A stolen JCB was also used in a raid at Rosslare on June 29th.
The digger had been stolen from a construction site in nearby Killinick. Garda Sgt Peter Griffin, of Wexford Garda station, said they are investigating a possible link between the two raids.
No arrests have been made and the money stolen in Rosslare has not been recovered.
Meanwhile, gardaí say thieves also left empty-handed following a botched raid at a bank branch in Callan, Co Kilkenny, on July 8th.
The culprits fled after a Garda patrol car arrived, leaving behind a tractor which they had planned to use to remove the ATM.