A gang of foreign criminals stole millions of baht by hacking a Thai bank’s ATM network in a theft believed linked to a similar one in Taiwan, police said Wednesday.

The hackers made off with at least 12 million baht ($469,176) by inserting cards installed with malware into multiple cash machines run by Thailand’s state-run Government Savings Bank (GSB) in late July.

The theft came shortly after Taiwan announced that a group of foreigners had managed to steal US$2.5 million (S$3.4 million) from cash machines using a similar method.

A Latvian, a Romanian and a Moldovan were arrested over the Taiwan heist but a number of suspects – including five Russians – managed to flee abroad.

Foreign suspects arrested over $3.4m ATM cyber robbery in Taiwan

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Reuters, AFP

Police in Bangkok on Wednesday announced that GSB had alerted them to a similar hack in what they said was a first for Thailand.

“As of now the evidence we have found makes us confident that this group is linked to the gang who committed a similar robbery in Taiwan,” Police General Panya Mamen told reporters.

At least five foreign suspects travelled from Taiwan to Thailand to carry out the theft, he said.

“Investigators believe their identity is Eastern European though we are investigating whether any Thais were involved,” Panya said, adding that those five had likely left Thailand.

Police said at least 21 ATMs were hacked, some of them spitting out up to a million baht at a time. They said the bank had not immediately noticed the theft.

Those behind the heist stood for long periods at the cash machines, usually late at night, prompting police to ask Thais to watch out for strange behaviour by foreigners at cash machines.

As well as making arrests, police in Taiwan said they recovered around $2.3 million of the stolen money.

Investogators in Taipei said a server at a London branch of the bank that was targeted was hacked and implanted with malware ahead of the ATM heist.

Thailand has long been a hub for cyber criminals, both Thais and foreigners.

The current junta government has vowed to crack down on foreign criminals in an operation which immigration police have called “Good guys in, bad guys out”.

Last month Thai police announced they had detained a Russian man and an Uzbek woman in cooperation with the FBI. They are accused of running a hacking syndicate that stole some $29 million from bank accounts.

A driver who was allegedly playing Pokemon Go when he hit and killed a woman in Japan has been arrested, police said Wednesday.

Media said that Tuesday’s incident marked Japan’s first fatal vehicle accident involving the popular gaming app.

Keiji Gooh, a 39-year-old farmer, allegedly struck two women on Tuesday evening on a road in Tokushima city, western Japan, as he played the app while driving, a police spokesman said.

One of the women, aged 72, died while the other, 60, was seriously injured, the spokesman said.

Jiji Press said it was the nation’s first fatal accident involving a driver playing Pokemon Go while at the wheel.

Jiji also said there have been nearly 80 accidents in Japan involving modes of transportation including cars and bicycles since the app was introduced into Japan last month.

Authorities worldwide have issued a slew of warnings since the hugely popular smartphone app was launched in July.

Gotta catch ’em all: Pokemon Go now in Singapore

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The Straits Times, Facebook / RSAF, Facebook/SPF, AsiaOne, Capitaland, Lianhe Wanbao, The New Paper

It has already been blamed for a wave of crimes, traffic violations and complaints in cities around the globe.

The free app uses satellite locations, graphics and camera capabilities to overlay cartoon monsters on real-world settings, challenging players to capture and train the creatures for battles.

Pokemon has been popular in Japan since first being launched as software in 1996 for Nintendo’s iconic Game Boy console.

It expanded into other media, most notably a wildly popular TV animation show and its popularity has never waned.

Powerful quake hits Myanmar, damaging famed Bagan temples Hla-Hla HTAY Yangon, Aug 24, 2016 (AFP) – A powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar Wednesday, killing at least one person and damaging pagodas in the ancient city of Bagan, officials said.

The quake, which the US Geological Survey said hit at a depth of 84 kilometres (52 miles), was also felt across neighbouring Thailand, India and Bangladesh, sending panicked residents rushing onto the streets.

At least one man was killed in a Myanmar village near the epicentre, said Han Zaw Win, a local MP from Magway region where the quake struck.

“A 22 year-old man was killed when a nearby building collapsed during the earthquake,” he told AFP, adding that a woman was injured.

A tourist police officer reported damage to several temples in Bagan – Myanmar’s prized ancient capital, some 30 kilometres north of the epicentre.

“Some famous pagodas were damaged during the earthquake,” he told AFP, adding that some of the damage was “serious”.

The officer, who requested anonymity, said a Spanish tourist was slightly hurt when she fell from a temple while watching the sunset.

Scaling Bagan’s ancient Buddhist monuments, of which there are more than 2,500, is a daily ritual among tourists and local pilgrims who flock to the site.

The temples, built between the 10th and 14th centuries, are revered in the Buddhist-majority country.

Myanmar, which has opened its doors to a rising tide of visitors since emerging from junta rule in 2011, is eager to see the ancient capital designated as a UNESCO world heritage site.

The USGS estimated that the quake’s impact would be “relatively localised” but noted that many buildings in the region are “highly vulnerable” to shaking.

The earthquake caused high-rise buildings in Myanmar’s largest city Yangon to sway, as well as those in the Thai capital Bangkok and the Indian city of Kolkata.

“Services of the underground railway have been suspended fearing aftershocks of the quake,” Kolkata Metro Railway spokesman Indrani Banerjee told AFP.

The quake was also felt throughout south and southwestern Bangladesh close to the border with Myanmar, with television footage showing residents running outside.

At least 20 people were injured as workers tried to flee a building in the industrial area of Savar outside Dhaka, ATN Bangla television reported.

“All of us ran to the streets leaving the houses and shops unsecured as the quake seemed very dangerous,” Nazmus Sakib, from the southern city of Chittagong near the Myanmar border, wrote on his Facebook wall.

Earthquakes are relatively common in Myanmar, although the country has not suffered a major one since 2012.