Would-be bank robbers literally broke the bank in an unsuccessful heist in Yautepec, Morelos, early yesterday morning.

Police apprehended one suspect after responding to the break-in, which the unlucky thieves managed by using a stolen backhoe.

According to the state attorney general, police received a report at 3:55am that armed civilians had broken into a construction materials and equipment store and stolen a backhoe.

Authorities began a search for the stolen equipment with the help of video surveillance cameras, while other members of the police force closed off the municipality’s exits.

At 4:30, an alarm alerted authorities to a break-in at a bank in a strip mall in Oaxtepec. A man who attempted to flee the scene as police arrived was taken into custody and turned over to the public prosecutor’s office. The suspect’s accomplices managed to elude authorities.

Upon entering the bank to investigate further, police discovered that the robbers had used a backhoe — the same unit reported stolen earlier that morning — to demolish the back wall of the building. The thieves had then attempted to pull the vault out of the wreckage using a chain hitched to the backhoe.

Police also recovered a pickup truck from the scene that had been reported stolen a month earlier.

Source: Diario de Morelos (sp), El Universal (sp)