A CAR park attendant raised the alarm about two men who withdrew £2,500 from other people’s bank accounts in Dorchester, a court was told.

Dorchester Crown Court was told how Latvian Valdemaras Jokubauskis, 26, and Alexandru Gaina, 22, from Moldova, were reported as ‘acting suspiciously’ by the attendant in Charles Street car park and watched on CCTV.

The court was told the two men entered South Street via Tudor Arcade and ran from police before their arrest.

Prosecuting, Stuart Ellacott said a BMW they were using was found with equipment used for ‘skimming’ – gaining bank card numbers from bank cards used at ATMs.

He said police found a micro camera in a piece of conduit – used to glean PIN numbers from the cards – and a computer with the details of 847 bank cards on it.

The court was told Gaina had super glue with him while police recovered a ‘throat’ – a tool that is inserted into ATMs – which Jokubauskis threw into a bush. The two men appeared for sentencing after pleading guilty to conspiracy to steal £2,500.

The court was told Jokubauskis – found with £855 – and Gaina withdrew £2,500 in Wareham and Dorchester using a cloned card that was given to them. Paul Hester, representing Jokubauskis, said they had not downloaded any information themselves.

He said Jokubauskis arrived in Britain in 2004 as a qualified carpenter and was joined by his family in London but had seen a downturn in work.

Jokubauskis had told him: “When you have a wife, two children and no money you become less picky about what you do.”

Judge Malcolm Gibney was told bank details found on the computer had been used since their arrest on September 17 last year and accepted the two men were part of a bigger operation.

He sentenced Jokubauskis to four years imprisonment, citing one previous similar offence.

Gaina was sentenced to three years and both men have signed deportation papers.