SUBANG JAYA - IN a daring heist, thieves coated eight CCTV screens with black paint to prevent the devices from recording them robbing three automated teller machines of more than RM600,000 (S$252,600) at a bank here.

Police have not ruled out an inside job because none of the ATMs at the bank, located near the Equine Park, was forced open during the 11.20pm incident on Tuesday.

The thieves took only about 15 minutes to empty the three machines at the bank, about one km from the district police headquarters.

Subang Jaya OCPD Asst Comm Zainal Rashid said police received a call from bank officials informing them that the cash in the ATMs had been withdrawn in a 'suspicious manner'.

'Bank officials went to check out the machines at 9am after noticing there was a glitch in the ATM's computer system. It was then that they realised that the cash containers had been taken from the machines.

'We believe someone who has the key and access code to the ATMs must have done it as there was no sign of forced entry,'' he said.

It is learnt that personnel from a security company had reloaded money into the machines at about 7pm on Tuesday.

A member of the public who went to withdraw money from one of the ATMs at 11.45pm alerted the police when he noticed that the CCTVs were covered with paint.

ACP Zainal said a patrol car went to investigate and returned when they did not find any sign of a break-in at the premises or on the ATMs.

'We interviewed several people there, including the security guard on duty that night, who claimed that he went for dinner when the incident happened.

'CCTV footage captured only the image of a man wearing a uniform with his face partially covered with a cloth,' he said, adding that police had lifted several sets of fingerprints from the scene. - The Star/ANN.