Story By: Alex Cope, Sub Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency: Newsflash

This is the moment a gang of hooded thieves wrap a thick metal chain around a cash machine on a busy Philadelphia street before using a van to rip it from its fitting and flee with it.

The incident took place on North 5th Street in the Olney area of the city of Philadelphia in the northeastern American state of Pennsylvania and was recorded by CCTV cameras at around 4 am on 1st June, but the clip has only just been released by the local police department.

In the footage, a gang of hooded thieves can be seen wrapping a metal chain around the cash machine on the pavement.

Other vehicles can be seen passing as the thieves then use a van to rip the cash machine from its fittings, pulling on it with the chain and ramming the van into the machine.

The van used to rip the machine lose is then seen driving away as the gang put the metal chain into a larger van which they appear to have arrived in.

They can then be seen with a heavy-duty trolley next to the cash machine and the local police reported that they escaped with the machine.

The Philadelphia Police Department wrote on their website that the cash machine “contained an unknown amount of money” but that the “estimated value of loss and damage is 5,000 USD (3,967 GBP)”.

No arrests have been reported.

The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.