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Indian police experienced an embarrassing bit of publicity in October when they fell asleep on the job, allowing an unidentified group of burglars to enter a police station in the Vasant Vihar neighborhood of New Delhi and make off with money from the ATM.

The burglary took place during the early hours of Oct. 13, when “most of the staff were in a deep sleep,” according to the Times of India. Upon awaking, an officer went to withdraw cash from the ATM on the premises of the police station; this officer then noticed that the lower part of the ATM had been “dismantled.”

The police station was shut down, says the Times, but a nearby tea shop on the premises was burgled as well. The owner reported that about RS5,000 (or about $81) was missing.

One officer states that the robbery was unsuccessful, and says the burglars never reached the cash box. The Times, however, reports that a “huge amount” of money was stolen, gleefully noting that the police have refrained from lodging an FIR—a report about the details of the crime—as a “face-saver.” The Times’s sources reportedly suspect a drug addict was responsible for the robbery, but are not ruling out the possibility of an inside job.

Sarah Alender

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