Police are investigating possible links between a rash of overnight burglaries at venues and the audacious daytime theft of a cash dispenser from a well-known Newcastle pub.
During a busy period, around 4:30 on the afternoon of 4 July, three men arrived at the hotel and entered via a rear fire exit. All were dressed as workers, decked out in high-vis clothing, and wearing PPE masks and gloves.
The first man headed straight through the gaming room to a cash dispenser. A second followed shortly after, with a removalist trolley.
A third man remained at the fire door, holding it open and likely keeping watch.
The men inside swiftly loaded the machine onto the trolley, and being careful to not make eye contact with anyone, transported it outside to a waiting truck.
The brazen nature of the robbery meant an employee manning the gaming room did not suspect anything was wrong, and failed to alert a manager before they had left.
In their haste to get away the bandits failed to properly secure the stolen dispenser on the back of the (suspected stolen) Ford Raptor, and it’s believed to have slid off the tray at the next corner. Witnesses saw this, but similarly did not suspect anything, telling police it looked as though tradies had lost a toolbox, and stopped to throw it back on.
The machine was found beside the Hunter River sometime later, missing approximately $30k.
Investigators are now probing possible connections to at least five similar burglaries at pubs and clubs across Lake Macquarie, Newcastle and Port Stephens in the past two months.
This series of break-ins have occurred after hours, featuring men wearing masks targeting freestanding cigarette machines, loading the bounty and escaping in a matter of minutes.
