14 DAY TRIAL // While crooks in other countries rely on sophisticated ways to rob cashpoints, in Manila they use a simple and apparently efficient method: a metal bar coated with the sap of jackfruit.
One property of this fruit’s juice is that it is extremely sticky. In an example of how nature can defeat technology, two Filipino robbers would resort to a metal bar properly smeared with the sticky substance placed inside the ATM.
When someone would attempt to withdraw money, the bills would stick to the bar inside the machine, the customer probably believing that the notes were not delivered.
A suburban Manila police spokesman, Inspector Edwin Malabanan, told AFP that the sap of the fruit is highly adhesive and that the duo was quite clever coming up with this idea.
After the client of the cashpoint would leave disappointedly, the two retrieved the money.
The police received complaints from the banks that recorded the losses, and based on the CCTV footage, they were able to apprehend one of the felons.
There is no evidence that this method has been used elsewhere in the country, or the world, but once news of this spreads, more such incidents may be recorded.
Because no electronic device or tool was used, the thief faces a smaller sentence, of six years of jail time, compared to the 20 years he would have received if a more sophisticated method had been employed.