North Antrim MLA Ian Paisley Jr has called for a Northern Ireland-wide strategy to tackle the thefts of automated cash machines, following a smash and grab incident in Kells, Co Antrim.
The cash machine was stolen from the front wall of a SuperValu supermarket on the town's Main Street in the early hours of Friday morning.
A mechanical digger was taken from a site at Larne Road outside Kells and then used to ram the supermarket. Police said the thieves got away in a white pick-up truck which was later found abandoned.
It is the latest in a series of 16 thefts or attempted thefts across the region, involving the use of stolen diggers to remove cash machines outside banks, shops and filling stations.
The Kells robbery is the first one to take place in Co Antrim with the majority of previous incidents taking place in Fermanagh and Tyrone.
SDLP North Antrim MLA Declan O'Loan said the Kells raid followed two failed attempts in Ahoghill and Carnlough.
DUP North Antrim MLA Ian Paisley Jr has said measures to prevent the thefts should be put in place.
"Clearly criminals are involved in copycat theft attacks," he said.
"I believe preventable measures are possible. For example, where there is no CCTV, the ATM owners, the banks should install it as a priority."
Mr Paisley added: "All ATMs should also be fitted with an electronic tracking device and should have dye inside them that would be triggered and spray onto the money, rendering it useless to robbers."
TUV leader Jim Allister, who lives in Kells, told UTV the incident would not have happened if the local police station had not been closed.
"The opportunity, as this incident shows, is not lost on criminal gangs who now have the confidence to commit such a crime in the heart of the village, safe in the knowledge that any police are miles away," he said.
The Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association said the situation was "getting out of control".
" We are now seeing them occur on a weekly basis which is a major cause for concern for local small business owners," Chief Executive Glyn Roberts said.
"The criminals who steal these ATM machines are not just stealing from small businesses, they are stealing from the whole community who, in rural areas, rely on these machine to withdraw benefits and pensions"
© UTV News