Aeon in 24-hour security watch after gang swipes cash machine

Security guards were on 24-hour watch over Aeon Credit Services cash points last night after thieves drove off with a cash machine.

Four machines at Aeon - which produces the Hello Kitty card - have been burgled in three weeks.

Masked men broke into Aeon's glass-fronted Shau Kei Wan lobby about 5am yesterday, ripped out a cash machine, loaded it into a white van and drove off, police said.

It was the first Aeon robbery in which thieves have stolen the whole machine rather than prise out the cash box.

The gang stole the machine without breaking the lobby's glass front. The company would not say how much money was involved.

The alarm worked properly - unlike previous robberies in which the system had been switched off.