Status: 02/02/2023 12:31 p.m
They are said to have blown up more than 50 ATMs and stolen 5.2 million euros: German investigators have now arrested several men in raids in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Several men have been arrested in the Netherlands in a blow to a gang of ATM blasters who are mainly active in southern Germany. The perpetrators are said to have blown up more than 50 ATMs in Germany and stole 5.2 million euros.
“This is one of the largest actions against ATM blasters in the Netherlands,” said the Bavarian and Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Offices and the Bamberg Public Prosecutor’s Office together in Munich. With the exception of one case in Thuringia, according to the current state of investigation, the perpetrators who have been active since November 2021 have always chosen ATMs in the two southern German states.
Property damage is 6.5 million euros
On Monday, the officers searched 16 buildings during raids in the Dutch provinces of Utrecht and Limburg and in Belgium in cooperation with the local police. Nine men aged 25 to 41 who were wanted on an arrest warrant were arrested. Three more are currently being sought.
“In addition, nine prepared explosive packages were discovered,” said operations manager Jürgen Harle from the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office. “The perpetrators ruthlessly blast their way to the money, risk the lives of bystanders and destroy buildings,” said Baden-Württemberg’s Interior Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU) on the occasion of the arrests. The property damage is regularly higher than the loot. In the current series, it is said to be 6.5 million euros.
2022 more blasts than ever before
Around 450 ATMs were blown up nationwide in 2022 by the beginning of December, as the “Welt am Sonntag” reported at the time, citing participants in the conference of interior ministers. A new high was thus reached.
In Baden-Württemberg last year eleven unsuccessful attempts were made, but the perpetrators succeeded 23 times. In the previous year there were 24 attacks, in 2020 there were even 41 mostly successful attempts. According to the Federal Criminal Police Office, the gangs, which often come from the Netherlands, are also a real problem in other federal states, for example in neighboring North Rhine-Westphalia.