Witnesses have described the moment a “brazen” gang of thieves blew open another ATM machine in the north-east.
They targeted the cash dispenser at a Tesco store and used explosives to blast it out of a wall.
One resident who watched the heist unfold, said locals had been woken by a loud “boom” – and that the gang had continued their raid knowing people were watching.
She said a night-bus carrying revellers from Aberdeen city centre slowed when it approached the supermarket car park, as the raiders bundled their loot into a getaway car.
The heist at the Newtonhill branch of Tesco happened just months after thieves made off with more than £10,000 from two cash machines at another north-east supermarket.
Two ATMs were found lying at the entrance to Morrisons in Banchory in January, surrounded by broken glass and window frames.
Just a month earlier, two bank machines were targeted in Angus.
And last year, there were raids on ATMs at New Deer, Oldmeldrum, Inverurie, Ellon, Stonehaven and Aberdeen in the space of just two months.
Several people have been charged and are due to appear at court.
However, the gang behind January’s heist remain at large.
Detectives in Merseyside have been liaising with police investigating the Morrisons raid after seven men were jailed in England for the theft of £800,000 from 28 cash machines in banks, post offices and supermarkets.
Last night, Detective Inspector Stewart Mackie, who is leading the Newtonhill investigation, said it was too early to tell if the crimes were linked, but that officers were keeping an open mind.
“We are conscious that they may be connected, but at this stage there’s nothing to connect them,” he said.
A resident who lives nearby said her family and neighbours had been woken up in the middle of the night by a “deafening” sound.
“It was a boom. People thought a truck had crashed on the A90,” she said.
“I’ve never heard a noise like it in my life. I’ll never forget it.”
As people rushed to their windows to find out what had happened, the woman saw two men grabbing cash from the destroyed machine, which they bundled into a waiting car.
There was another man sitting in the dark grey, estate-type vehicle, which police are now trying to trace.
“They weren’t saying anything – they were just working away quietly,” she said.
The eyewitness said that although the gang had chosen “the darkest time of the night” to carry out their heist, the area was well lit with streetlights.
She said that as the night-bus passed, one gang member stared intently at the driver before continuing with the raid.
“They knew people were watching,” she said.
As locals frantically tried to describe to police over the phone what was unfolding just yards from their homes, the gang eventually fled the scene after a “few minutes”.
They left with their car headlights switched off, and headed south on the A90.
Another resident said there was no doubt “explosives” had been used to blow up the machine, considering the state it was left in.
At the scene yesterday, the hole-in-the-wall which normally dispenses cash was boarded up.
It is understood the gang also spray-painted the CCTV which overlooks the car park before they carried out their raid around 2.30am on Saturday.
Tesco was closed to the public on Saturday morning to allow police to conduct their investigation, and reopened around lunchtime.
A spokesman for the supermarket giant said it was co-operating fully with detectives.
Yesterday, DI Mackie said he could not confirm what was used to blast the ATM from the supermarket wall, and that his team was still trying to piece-together what had happened
He appealed for anyone who had seen the estate car in the days leading up to the incident to contact police, or anyone who was in the area that night to come forward if they saw anything suspicious.
“We are also interested to hear from anyone who was on the night bus from Aberdeen that dropped off people coming from town around the time,” he said.
“This was a brazen crime. They not only endangered themselves but they endangered innocent members of the public.”