Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP Syed Hoque, the New York man arrested in Hudson for allegedly cashing in on stolen and altered bank and gift cards, listens to the proceedings at his Superior Court bail hearing Monday. With him is his lawyer, Sarah Amorin.

NASHUA – A Superior Court judge Monday set bail at $10,000 cash for Syed Hoque, the New York man whose suspicious behavior at a Hudson ATM led to his arrest and incarceration during the weekend.

Hoque, 24, a native and lifelong resident of Brooklyn, is accused of taking part in an international theft ring that authorities believe involved the use of stolen and manipulated bank and gift cards, with which numerous suspects withdrew tens of thousands of dollars from various Digital Federal Credit Union ATMs.

Hoque, arrested in the early morning hours Sunday, is charged with one count of receiving stolen property, a felony. Hudson police said they received reports around 11 p.m. Saturday that the driver of a car with New Jersey license plates was spending as long as 30 minutes at a time at the ATM at the credit union on Lowell Road.

An officer, observing “a large amount of money stacked on the passenger seat, and a large number of gift cards sitting on the console,” according to police, seized the vehicle, but released Hoque.

Hoque later called police, allegedly telling them “he wanted to cooperate,” and wished to speak with them “in regards to the ongoing investigation,” police said.

Police, who said they found $9,000 in cash and numerous bank and gift cards containing bank account information in Hoque’s vehicle, took him into custody after he allegedly “made admissions … to his involvement in using stolen account information,” police said.

On Monday, Assistant County Attorney Brett Harpster asked Judge Charles Temple to set bail at $100,000 cash-only, calling Hoque “an absolute flight risk” due to his lack of ties to New Hampshire.

In detailing the allegations, Harpster said three of the suspects in the alleged theft ring, whom he called Hoque’s “associates,” used the cards, which were “manipulated to look like ATM cards,” to withdraw money from different Digital credit union ATMs “at 10:15 p.m. every night.”

The “associates” brought the cash to a hotel room in Methuen, Massachusetts, where it was counted, then transported to New York. There, the suspects would allegedly go to a casino to “clean” the money, by allegedly exchanging their $20 bills for $100 bills, Harpster said.

Finally, the “associates” give the money “to another unknown source,” who allegedly takes it to “the head of the operation in Canada,” he said.

Harpster, during the hearing, produced an Eagle-Tribune newspaper that contained a story on the arrests of two individuals from Canada on charges related to the same alleged ATM crime ring.

Attorney Sarah Amorin, who represented Hoque at Monday’s hearing, objected to Harpster’s use of the newspaper story to bolster his argument for high bail for Hoque.

Temple sustained Amorin’s objection, telling the parties, “I’m not going to use a newspaper article” in making his decision on Hoque’s bail.

According to the Eagle-Tribune story, police in Methuen conducted a press conference Sunday announcing the arrest of two men from Canada – Tharushan Nirmalachandran, 30, of Quebec, and Ajitharan Raveendran, 28, of Ontario.

Methuen police said at the press conference they received a call from Hudson police regarding their arrest of Hoque.

Hudson police told Methuen authorities they developed information that two suspects “were likely operating out of a room in the Days Inn on Pelham Street” in Methuen.

Early the next morning, Methuen police executed a search warrant on the hotel room, where they arrested the two Canadian men.

Police, according to the Eagle-Tribune story, uncovered “large amounts of cash, estimated at $52,000, inside duffel bags, as well as gift cards, debit cards, a printing device, and an electronic device used to activate and utilize bank cards.”

As for Hoque’s Monday hearing, Harpster told the court federal authorities are in the process of securing a warrant to take Hoque into their custody, which Amorin argued was mere speculation about what comes next for Hoque.

Amorin, noting that Hoque’s mother and one of his brothers drove from Brooklyn to Nashua to attend Monday’s hearing, asked Temple to set bail at $5,000 cash-only, and if Hoque is released that he abide by a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.

Hoque’s family “absolutely intends, as does Syed, that he will be here for each and every court hearing,” Amorin said. She said her client is a first-year community college student who wants to get back home to resume classes.

Temple, who said he doesn’t believe $100,000 bail is appropriate, settled on $10,000 cash-only bail, with several conditions that include the curfew and his appearance at all court hearings.