Three masked and gloved individuals targeted a cash payment machine at a service station in Honnelles, Hainaut province, on Sunday morning, according to the Mons prosecutor’s office.
A car was stolen on Saturday night in Saint-Symphorien, Mons, and was used in a ram-raid attack on the Total service station on Rue du Rat d’Eau in Honnelles, near the French border towards Bavay. The perpetrators seized the cash payment machine and then fled with it in the stolen car.
The prosecutor reported that the suspects collided with another vehicle while escaping. They drove to Dour, where they set fire to the stolen car in a small alleyway. The stolen cash machine, weighing between 100 and 150 kilograms, was not found in the burnt vehicle. The estimated value of the theft is between €2,000 and €2,500. Investigators examined the scene.
The prosecutor noted that the method used mirrors a home invasion in Saint-Symphorien from a week earlier. The suspects, described as “professionals,” managed to avoid roads with speed cameras and surveillance between Honnelles and Dour. Only footage from the service station’s camera helped clarify the events.
