French-Dutch gang arrested for dozens of ATM bombings in Europe

French police arrested a French-Dutch gang of ATM burglars in Strasbourg on Friday morning. According to French media, it concerns a group of 13 men. The gang reportedly stole hundreds of thousands of euros in total.

According to the French news channel BFM TV, the gang was arrested on Friday morning when the gang members returned from an ATM robbery in Germany. The channel reports that the suspects are between 25 and 30 years old.

The police had been investigating the group for several months. According to the French newspaper Le Parisien, the gang struck around 12 times in Germany and at least five times in Switzerland before moving their operations to France. In July, two ATMs were blown up in and around Strasbourg. The link to the other ATM bombings was made by the way the gang operated, with the perpetrators driving away at high speed each time after the robberies.

Most of the loot is said to have come from Germany, where the thirteen suspects blew up the most ATMs. This is because there are large amounts in ATMs, as cash is still the main form of payment in Germany, according to NOS.

Thanks to a joint investigation by the French, German, and Swiss police, the notorious international gang was arrested.

The gang members will be brought before the judge in Nancy on Tuesday at the latest. There, it will be decided whether their pre-trial detention will be extended, NOS reported.

Dutch nationals are more frequently involved in ATM robberies abroad. For example, German authorities recently reported that they arrested many more Dutch nationals on suspicion of ATM robbery last year than the year before. Of the 201 suspects, 160 were from the Netherlands in 2023.