Three ATMs Blasted in Amsterdam

Within five days, three ATMs in Amsterdam were blasted. Early Monday morning an ATM was hit in the Rijnstraat and last Thursday and Friday ATMs in Geuzenveld and Slotervaart were targeted. At half past four on Monday morning people heard a huge bang in the Rijnstraat. Robbers tried to empty the ATM at the corner of Rijnstraat and Trompenburgstraat. In front of the bank building, a car was ablaze. The facade of the ABN-Amro Office was ruined and the ATM was completely destroyed. The scene on Thursday night at the Lambertus Zijlplein in Geuzenveld was similar. There, an ABN Amro ATM was the target. Cylinders were used to inject gas into the ATM which was then detonated. Twenty-four hours later, at about half past five in the morning, the ABN Amro ATM at the Delflandplein in Slotervaart was also hit. Again, gas cylinders were used and a burnt car remained at the scene. The ATM blast on Monday morning brought the total in Amsterdam to three, all within five days. In all cases, the thieves operated between 4 and 4:30 am. Another similarity between the blast in Geuzenveld and Slotervaart was that witnesses saw the perpetrators disappear on motor scooters. Perhaps the most remarkable was that all blasted machines were ATMs of ABN Amro. In Vlaardingen an ABN Amro ATM was blasted in the early hours of Monday morning at Dr. Wiardi Beckman Singel. The robbers made use of gas cylinders and the perpetrators fled with an unknown amount on scooters. Again there was a car left behind. The ATM blasted on Saturday 30 March in Nieuwegein was also that of ABN Amro. There, a burning car was also found at the scene and the perpetrators fled on scooters. This trend seems not confined to the last few weeks. In November 2012, four ABN Amro ATMs were blasted in Breda, Vlijmen, Raamsdonksveer and Dongen, and in December 2012, at least two ABN Amro ATMs were robbed.