The Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) of the Eheliyagoda People’s Bank had been tampered with on Saturday night and Rs 1.7 million in currency notes removed, Police said.

The Eheliyagoda Police arrested a 24-year-old suspect around 2 a.m. yesterday (5) and on questioning him recovered the loot which had been hidden in a paddy field.

Police also said this was the first occasion an ATM had been tampered with and cash stolen in this country.

On the instructions of Ratnapura SSP Kitjhsiri Ganegama, OIC Kapila Premadasa, IP A. S. B. Perera and PS Abeygunawardena are conducting investigations.