Nine suspects arrested in Netherlands for 50 ATM bombings in Germany

The German police arrested nine people in the Netherlands on Monday accused of committing at least 50 ATM bombings in the German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg since November 2021. They stole over 5.2 million euros in these robberies, the German police said in a press release on Thursday.

The suspects are between the ages of 25 and 41. They have Dutch, Moroccan, Turkish, and Romanian nationalities. Three suspects are still at large.

The number of ATM bombings in Germany has increased to worrying heights in the past year. Perpetrators use explosives to blow open an ATM and access the cash inside. Last year, the German police recorded 494 such robberies. In January, there have already been 50.

According to the German police, most of these attacks are committed by Dutch perpetrators. The National Forensic Coordination Team of the Dutch police agrees, estimating that 80 percent of ATM bombings in Germany can be attributed to Dutch perpetrators, RTL Nieuws reports. Dutch banks have decreased the number of ATMs on the street and significantly increased the security around those that remain. So Dutch perpetrators turned to the less secure targets across the border.

The German and Dutch authorities work closely together to investigate these bombings. The police searched 15 locations in the Netherlands as part of this bust, seizing cars and explosive materials. According to the German police, this indicated that the gang was already planning its next ATM bombing.

ATM bombings are incredibly hazardous, detective Johan van Hartskamp of the Utrecht police said to RTL. “There is already a risk of explosion during the production of the explosive charges. That obviously applies to the explosion itself. And don’t forget that the escape route also poses a major traffic hazard,” he said to the broadcaster. “Perpetrators drive back to the Netherlands at speeds exceeding 250 kilometers per hour, often with explosives in the car.”

The German police arrested another three Dutch men for an ATM bombing in Kierspe, near Cologne, on Wednesday evening. The suspects fled in a car and tried to blind the police chasing them with a laser pointer, NOS reports. The suspects fled on foot after turning onto a dead-end street, and the police eventually tracked them down in the forest with the help of a police helicopter.