Two ATMs have been recovered by police in the North following the latest cash machine theft in Co Antrim.

The ATMs were taken from a supermarket on Larne Link Road in Ballymena.

Officers were alerted to the theft at around 3am.

A nearby patrol responded, and spotted the machines being driven away from the area on the back of a pick-up type vehicle.

Officers followed the vehicle, but found it abandoned on the Woodside Road.

According to the PSNI, a tractor and digger used to remove the cash machines were set alight during the incident.

Detective Chief Inspector David Henderson: “The recovered ATMs will now be examined for any forensic evidence they might yield.

"On this occasion the quick response of the police patrol was able to force the thieves to abandon their vehicles and the ATMs and they have fled empty-handed.

"It is likely that the digger and tractor involved were stolen - however no reports of such machinery being stolen have been received as yet."

He added that the force has increased the amount of officers patrolling ATM sites, both during the day and night.

However, he stressed: "The reality is that these attacks are carried out across a wide geographical area and we cannot be present at every ATM location all of the time.

"We really need the public to help us and report anything suspicious, as a number of people did in Ballymena this morning."

There have been more than a dozen ATM robberies since the start of the year, affecting businesses on both sides of the border.

This day last week, a stolen digger was used to rip machines from Bank of Ireland and AIB on the main street in Kells in the early hours of the morning.