Thieves in Guanajuato have found a new income stream in bank machines although no one is saying how much cash they’re pulling in.

Since May, 14 ATM machines have been robbed in the wee hours of the morning in the municipalities of Celaya, Salvatierra, Irapuato and Guanajuato. In 11 of those cases, the thieves carried off the machines whole in pickup trucks.

At 3:37am on Monday, explosives were used to open a Banorte ATM outside a government workers’ (ISSSTE) hospital in Guanajuato.

The explosion caught the attention of private security guards at the hospital. But when they went to investigate, the thieves tied them up and stole their wallets and phones.

The incident was just the latest in a string of bank machine robberies.

On November 6, a group of armed thieves stole two ATMs — one from Santander and the other from BBVA — from inside a Bodega Aurrera supermarket in Celaya. Using vehicles to ram the metal security doors open, they also got away with televisions and cell phones.

On September 27, a Banorte ATM inside an ISSSTE clinic in Celaya was damaged when armed men attempted to open it and take it away using chains, but were unsuccessful. However, a robbery of two ATMs from a shopping center in Celaya was successful on September 6.

On August 26, thieves took four minutes to rob an HSBC bank machine in Celaya using chains and pickup trucks, without being confronted by police.

Thieves in Salvatierra used similar tactics to steal two machines from a Banorte bank in the city center on August 15, and two bank machines were stolen in Irapuato in May and June.

Source: El Universal (sp), La Silla Rota (sp)