Two Sri Lankans were under arrest in New York for allegedly carrying hundreds of fraudulent ATM cards and $55,000 in cash, New York police said on Saturday.

A police officer noticed the two men in a bank lobby on Friday night stuffing cash into backpacks and followed them to another lobby where they repeated the process, police said.

Placed under arrest were Sivarubem Gnanapandithan, 28, and Ragavan Pathmasenan, 24, two Sri Lankan nationals living in Ontario, Canada, who were carrying 257 fraudulent ATM cards, mostly blank, cards similar to hotel pass keys and $55,689 in cash, police said.

In May, another Canadian resident was sentenced to three to nine years in prison for installing bank card "skimmers" on ATM machines in New York bank lobbies. (Reuters)