RIVERDALE PARK, Md. - Police say some bold thieves struck again when they stormed into a convenience store and broke open an ATM in a matter of seconds.

Police believe they are the same ATM thieves seen in surveillance videos using firefighting tools to bust open money machines to steal cash.

They say there are more than 16 cases in Prince George's County and D.C. This time, police say, they hit the Exxon gas station in Riverdale Park.

Manzoor Chughtai was working Monday morning when he says two masked men carrying tools came into the station. "They fixed this like this so the door wouldn't stop," he said. "Within a twinkle of the eye, they bend like this and they go like this."

With a crate blocking the door so the emergency lock wouldn't kick in, the suspects attacked the ATM. Chughtai described exactly what happened in the earlier cases, saying they used the tools to pop open the machine.

Police describe the tools as a halogen bar and hydro-ram -- usually used by firefighters to save lives. In one case, they stole chips before fleeing the scene. This time, they took off with Pop Tarts and Oreo cookies.

"The whole box of this and two boxes of this disappeared," said Chughtai.

He says he screamed at the suspects but they ignored him. Said Chughtai, "Everybody was astonished [saying], 'You were there! What happened?'"

But in 30 seconds the thieves escaped and police now say they're back on the hunt.

"We need to make an apprehension -- get these guys off the street before their pattern of behavior and crimes escalate to something worse than it already is," said Sgt. Patrick Vitchok of the Riverdale Park Police Department.

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