ATM Mafia Member Shot and Killed by Police during Car Attack in Opoj

Opoj, December 15 (TASR) – A member of the so-called ATM Mafia was shot and killed by the police, while another was wounded as the two tried to flee from the site of an attempted car theft by ploughing through two police vehicles in the village of Opoj (Trnava region) in the wee hours of Friday.

A caller from Opoj alerted the police by telephone at around 3:30 am, stating that two suspects were probably attempting to steal a car. Two police patrols were dispatched to the scene, while they were notified that the men could be dangerous, Police Corps president Tibor Gaspar reported at a press conference.

The two men, both with thick criminal records, jumped in their own car upon seeing the police arrive, but they got blocked by two police cars in an impasse. Nonetheless, they decided to break their way through by putting their car into reverse to gain speed and hitting the police vehicles parked in a row, the latter of them manned.

The four police officers responded by discharging around a dozen bullets into the car. The gangsters, however, managed to breach the car barrier, but subsequently crashed into a hedgerow. One of the perpetrators, identified as Martin K., 34, with a light head injury, surrendered immediately to the police, while the other man, a certain Jan G., 42, with a serious head injury attempted to jump over a fence, but eventually also surrendered, before succumbing to the injury.

Shortly after the incident, an unknown man stopped by the scene and threatened the officers that they’d be killed. The man subsequently fled by car.

The ATM Mafia was known several years ago for stealing cash dispensers by yanking them out by car and scattering spice on the scene to confuse police dogs. The gang members were eventually arrested and even sentenced, but an appellate court revoked the verdicts due to some mistakes in the dossier, ordering the first-degree court to deal with the matter anew.