A New Kind of Bank Robbery

Most of us have gotten so used to the sight of an ATM in the lobby of our local bank branch or in the corner of a 7-Eleven that we don't even recognize how valuable they are. Although the number can vary widely, one estimate reports that there is up to $35,000 in cash in each ATM.

They are fairly impervious to theft, though, which didn't deter a Sumo wrestler in Russia earlier this month. He walked into a Moscow shopping mall and carried the 200-pound machine out of the store on his shoulder. The wrestler and his accomplice made it as far as their getaway car in the mall's parking lot before police arrested them.

Apparently, the plan was to get the machine back to some safe place where it could be opened up with a blowtorch. But this happened in Russia, remember, where the population isn't wealthy enough to make frequent hundred-dollar withdrawals, as we do here in America. All told, the ATM held 25,000 rubles - which is just 838 dollars. Hardly worth carrying a 200-pound machine through a shopping mall, isn't it?