A £25,000 reward has been offered in connection with a six-figure Angus bank heist.
The reward was revealed today as detectives returned to the scene of the Kirriemuir ATM theft, a month on from the audacious robbery and a failed attempt to hit another Angus cash machine.
Police have also now released a CCTV image of a distinctive high-performance BMW at the centre of the inquiry after it was tracked in Angus in the early hours of December 20.
They have also confirmed that empty cash machine cassettes were recovered from an Angus road in the wake of the Kirrie theft and an attempted hit on a Friockheim cash machine shortly before.
A professional gang is thought to be behind the Kirrie raid, which happened just before 5am on a Saturday morning as the Angus town prepared for one of its busiest shopping weekends of the year.
Residents awoke to find a town-centre cordon in place around the Bank Street branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
The investigation has now confirmed that the sporty BMW M135i hatchback being sought in connection with the Kirrie incident was also seen in the Friockheim area just after 3am on the same date, where a failed attempt on the Co-op ATM in Gardyne Street was made.
Detective Sergeant Murray Coull said the blue BMW hatchback bearing the false registration mark YE63 BPZ contained three men, all wearing dark clothing, and appeared to have been in the Angus area for a number of hours during that early morning period.
“During enquiry into the reported incidents, police recovered empty cash machine cassettes on the A928 Kirriemuir to Glamis road,” added DS Coull.
The vehicle is known to have passed through Dundee in the Claverhouse Road area, and was last seen heading southwards on the A90 near to Longforgan.
Speculation that explosives were used in the Kirrie heist was previously quashed by police, who confirmed the thieves successfully removed the rear of the machine to make off with the as yet undisclosed six-figure sum.
The reward offer of up to £25,000 may be paid to any member of the public who provides information in relation to a serious crime against Royal Bank of Scotland.
Anyone who may have seen the BMW car or the occupants in Angus or Dundee or anyone who has CCTV relative to the areas described above is urged to contact Police Scotland on 101.
Information can also be passed anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Courier.