Muallim district police chief Supt Wan Kamarul Azran Wan Yusof said the ATM was blown up in the robbery which took place at about 6.30am. “The blast shattered the glass panels of the room where there were also a cash deposit machine and a cheque deposit machine.

The robbers took RM270,000 from the machine. The bank had loaded RM300,000 into that ATM yesterday evening.

He also said that the security authorities at the AmBank headquarters in Kuala Lumpur informed the police that the alarm at the bank in Tanjung Malim had gone off at 6.45 am.

Wan Kamarul Azran said a man living opposite the bank told the police he heard an explosion at about 6.30am and, through a window of his house, saw three men going in and out of the bank.

“The eye-witness said the men left in a red car but he could not verify the make and registration number.

“A CCTV footage showed two masked men enter the room where the ATM was and then come out before the explosion,” he said.

“There were also traces of some chemical in a parking bay, believed to be from an explosive substance. We also found three drops of blood that are likely to be from one of the suspects who could have been injured during the explosion,” he said.

Wan Kamarul Azran said all the specimens collected at the scene have been sent to the Chemistry Department and the Forensics Department.

Meanwhile, Perak CID chief Anuar Othman appealed to people with any information on the robbery to contact the nearest police station.