Police Investigation Underway on ATM Explosion in Bulgarian Village

Police have not yet confirmed whether Wednesday's ATM blast was aimed at draining the cash machine. Photo by BGNES

An ATM in the western Bulgarian village of Mramor exploded at around 3 a.m. on Wednesday, Sofia Police reported.

According to police officers, the blast was aimed at facilitating a robbery.

Upon the arrival of the police on the site, however, it was found that the money contained in the ATM has not been stolen.

Police are conducting a follow-up inspection of the site and the perpetrators are still wanted.

This is the first case of an ATM blast in Bulgaria.

Attempts at ATM robbery are usually carried out with a Flex grinder.

Another popular method of draining cash machines involves skimming devices, which read and store cards' information, allowing the scammers to access accounts fraudulently.

Five fays ago, two Bulgarians, Ivaylo Hristov of Toronto, Canada, and Vladislav Vladev from Sofia, were handed lengthy prison sentences for their role in a sophisticated ATM skimming scam in eastern Massachusetts in which they stole more than 5,000 from bank customers.

Twenty-nine-year-old Hristov will spend more than five years in prison, while thirty-seven-year-old Vladev will go to jail for more than six years.

Both men were also ordered to repay more than 5,000 they stole from Citizens Bank and Bank of America customers in nearly two months, beginning in December 2009.

A third suspect, 41-year-old Anton Venkov, is awaiting sentencing on similar charges.