More ATM bombings in NL, but few successful:report

The number of ATM bombings in the Netherlands increased significantly last year, but in the vast majority of them the perpetrators did not get away with any cash, newspaper AD reports based on figures from the police's internal magazine Blauw.

Last year there were a total of 95 ATM bombings, an increase of 55 percent. In only 16 percent of cases did the perpetrators demonstrably get away with gash. In 68 percent of the cases, the authorities are certain that no money was stolen. In the other cases, the results were unclear.

ATM bombings mostly happen at night, resulting in the Dutch banks deciding last year that most off their ATMs will be closed overnight. Last month the Dutch banking association NVB said that this measure proved to be effective. The measure will therefore remain in place for at least another year.

Banks are also working on a way to automatically destroy the bank notes in an ATM in the event of a bombing, in order to make this kind of attack completely unprofitable to criminals.