Two thieves were caught on camera stealing an ATM at an East Elmhurst convenience store just before Christmas.
The NYPD says the two perpetrators belong to a three-man crew that has broken into 49 commercial establishments across Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Bronx in the last four months of 2024. In each incident, two of the crooks haul away ATM machines before speeding away from each crime scene in stolen vehicles driven by a getaway driver.
Police from the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights reported that on the night of Monday, Dec. 23, at approximately 1:20 a.m., the suspects broke into the American Desi Bazaar and Deli, located at 75-10 31st Ave. by cutting a bolt on the roll-down security gate and smashing through the glass door. Once inside, they forcibly removed an ATM machine containing $2,000 in cash, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation. The two suspects carried the machine out of the store and loaded it into a stolen vehicle, which drove off in an unknown direction. The entire incident took less than ten minutes to execute. The store was closed at the time of the break-in, so no injuries were reported from the incident.
The NYPD released surveillance video of the East Elmhurst robbery Friday but could not provide descriptions because they wore face coverings and hoodies.
A reward of up to $3,500 is being offered for information that leads to their arrest.
Anyone with information regarding this incident or any of the other 48 break-ins is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are confidential.
The same crew has hit commercial establishments in the confines of a dozen Queens police precincts, including the new command at the 116th Precinct in Rosedale. The crew has not hit precincts in the Rockaways, Bayside, South Ozone Park, and Astoria.
