Rats Blamed For Eating N17m Banknotes Inside Indian ATM

Animals all over the world are becoming a nuisance. First Snakes were swallowing money and monkeys were embezzling in Nigeria.

Now, the rats in India have decided they don’t like bread again. They have been fingered as the culprits behind the 1.2m rupees (£13,300, $17,600) found shredded to bits in a malfunctioning cash machine in Assam, India

Technicians arrived to fix the malfunctioning ATM and were shocked to see the money in it has been destroyed. Pictures of the shredded bank notes at the State Bank of India branch in Tinsukia district were widely shared on Twitter.

Rats have been suspected as responsible for the damage. In one of the pictures shared online, a dead rodent can be seen lying in the midst of the shredded cash. Police said the rodents probably entered the machine through a hole for wiring, the Hindustan Times reported.

Police official Prakash Sonowal said that the machine had been out of action for about 12 days, the Hindustan Times added. Technicians who took the unit apart found banknotes of 2,000 and 500 rupee denominations destroyed. They managed to salvage another 1.7m rupees, officials said.