'It's unsettling': Burstall, Sask., Credit Union closed after stolen loader used in ATM theft

RCMP in west-central Saskatchewan are searching for at least two suspects after a bank in Burstall, near the Alberta border, was broken into with a stolen loader early Sunday morning.

Leader RCMP told CBC News that officers were called around 4 a.m. CT Sunday. Officers found a loader that had been stolen from the R.M. of Deer Forks parked amid the debris at the scene.

Surveillance footage from a nearby restaurant shows the loader being rammed into the bank and the ATM being stolen from the town, about 200 kilometres northwest of Swift Current.

A pickup truck that had been stolen from the nearby town of Leader was also spotted at the scene. It was later recovered in the hamlet of Liebenthal, roughly 25 kilometres away, police said.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, Cypress Credit Union Limited said the Burstall branch would be closed until further notice.

"The building has sustained extensive damage from theft of the ATM machine," the post said. "We have deployed several resources to get the building fixed and are assessing the damage."

A photo accompanying the post shows the corner of the bank completely open to the outside. The letter B is gone from the sign that usually reads Burstall Credit Union and the letter U is askew. Glass, siding, drywall and pink insulation from the building are also strewn across the parking lot.

Kim Lacelle, chief administrative officer for the RM of Deer Forks, said those in the town of roughly 400 people are left feeling uneasy.

"Everyone's pretty shocked. It's unsettling, that's for sure. You know, even though it's a place of work that this kind of thing happened at, you feel violated," Lacelle said.

She said some can't help but wonder how long the plan for this break-in was in the works.

"I definitely think it was planned," she said. "You know, there's a few shops around town. They didn't go anywhere else to check. They knew it was in there, so they gained entry. I I think that they've been scoping it out for a while, is my guess." 

Shelly Kay, manager of sales and marketing for the credit union, said they are working with its insurance company to see what it will cost to repair the corner of its building.

"Nothing else was compromised — no member information, no computers were obtained, nothing like that. Everything was still secure. We believe their intent was just to remove that ATM and they got out of there quickly," Kay said.

Kay said it's unclear when the location will re-open. For now, its two full-time employees have been shifted to other branches.