Eight men have appeared in court charged with a spate of late-night cash machine raids across the country, including alleged thefts at Perth and Carnoustie.
Police investing a trail of destruction across Scotland and England raided suspects’ homes in Merseyside on Monday morning.
Detectives believe the same criminal gang is responsible for a year-long campaign of dramatic raids in Tayside, Aberdeen, Cheshire, Gloucestershire, Thames Valley and Huyton.
It is alleged the group used gas canisters and tubing to cause explosions inside seven of the machines to expose the money inside.
In three other incidents, it alleged that heavy vehicles, including a lorry and a motorhome, were used to drag the cash machines from premises. The gang is said to have reached the machines by cutting through shop shutters using high-powered tools.
Police said the raids caused a “huge amount of damage” to the buildings.
In January, thieves cut a large hole in the wall of the Almondbank Service Station in Crieff Road. The cash machine locked inside the store was then cut open.
A few weeks later, blasts were heard as thieves stole a cash machine from the Co-op store on Barry Road, Carnoustie.
The men are also accused of carrying out similar raids in Aberdeen in June and August last year.
Each offence is alleged to have been carried out in the early hours of the morning.
On Thursday, eight of the suspects appeared at Liverpool Magistrates Court. They were: Andrew White, 27, of St Helens; his brother Anthony White, 26, of Huyton; Carl Cavanagh, 33, of Huyton and Anthony Conroy, 29, of Wavertree.
Michael Galea, 41, of Prescot; Nanu Miah, 27, of Birmingham; Scott Pearson, 34, of Huyton and Gary Carey, 39, of Huyton, also appeared.
They are each charged with conspiracy to use explosives to endanger life or injure property and conspiracy to enter commercial buildings with intent to steal.
None of the men entered pleas and they were remanded in custody until a follow-up pre-trial hearing at the city’s crown court on Thursday, July 28.
The seven month investigation was led by Police Scotland and Titan, the north-west of England’s organised crime unit.
