It was no speedy smash-and-grab when a thief, dressed like a Formula One driver, failed in his attempt to break open a Malaysian cash machine with a forklift, reports said Sunday.
Closed-circuit television footage caught the helmet-wearing, white jump-suit-clad thief in the act as he used the forklift to ram the cash machine booth for 10 minutes, district police chief Zainal Rashid Abu Bakar told the Star daily. The cash machine was located at a petrol station which was closed during the early morning robbery attempt, he said.
"However, as soon as the alarm went off, the man panicked and left the forklift which was stuck in the panel" of the cash dispenser, Zainal told the daily. He said police were investigating the incident which follows a similar attempt last year when a man rammed an excavator into a petrol station making off with the entire cash machine, the paper reported.