Georgia man indicted for blowing up ATM at DeKalb County mall now facing federal charges

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A man indicted by a DeKalb County Grand Jury for blowing up an automated teller machine in a county mall is now facing federal charges.

Abdurrahim Jalal, 53, was indicted in July for using a destructive device to destroy a structure, arson, and theft by taking, as well as manufacturing a destructive device.

Prosecutors said at the time that he blew up the ATM to steal the cash inside.

Now, the U.S. Department of Justice has announced federal charges for the same incident.

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Jalal reportedly used a pipe bomb to damage and access an ATM at the North DeKalb Mall on March 29 around 3:11 a.m., according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Police said he was able to get into the machine and take out a large amount of cash.

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According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, Jalal was indicted by a federal grand jury on Sept. 12 and first appeared in court to answer to the federal indictment on Tuesday.

“The unlawful use and possession of explosives creates a grave danger to our citizens and first responders who must risk their lives to respond to these violent crimes,” U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said in a statement. “This indictment is the culmination of investigative work conducted by a team of federal and local law enforcement agencies who recovered bombing materials from Jalal’s home and may have prevented additional explosions.”

The indictment charged Jalal with blowing up an ATM and possessing illegal explosive devices, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

DOJ said Jalal’s effort to blow up the ATM at the North DeKalb Mall’s Bank of America branch led to his taking about $88,000 from the machine’s vault.

After Jalal was identified by investigators, they obtained a search warrant for his house, where DOJ said they found additional destructive devices.

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