Masked men with submachine guns, a slowed-down and looted money transporter and burning vehicles: in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a raid like in an action film took place. According to the police, the robbers stole several million euros on Thursday on Autobahn 20 near Gützkow. The sophisticated preparation of the act and what happened afterwards suggested that they were organized criminals. According to the police, the perpetrators also fired. A police spokeswoman for the German Press Agency in Neubrandenburg said that how often and where exactly is not yet announced for tactical reasons. The two security guards sitting in the van were not injured in the robbery. The “Ostseewelle” had previously reported that shooting had taken place.
“It was a long-prepared act,” a police spokeswoman told the DPA. For example, shortly before the robbery in the early morning, extra massive concrete blocks were set up on the driveway from federal highway 111 to highway 20, as the investigation revealed. The perpetrators used these concrete parts as a “staged construction site” to attack the money transporter with two vehicles and force them to stop in front of the concrete parts.
The perpetrators must have scouted out the tour of the security service beforehand, because they knew that the money transport wanted to move from the B111 to the A20. The two employees in the front driver’s cab, which can be locked, were not attacked. The money transporter was violently opened from behind using heavy equipment. The heavily armed perpetrators were able to flee with millions in loot and a vehicle. They had previously lit one of their vehicles and set fire to the rear of the money transporter. Her getaway vehicle was found burnt out in a wooded area several hours later – just a few kilometers away near Messentin – along with an empty cash container. There was a high probability that another getaway vehicle was waiting there, it said.
When the criminals were gone, the employees of the damaged regional cash and valuables transport company are said to have got out of their van. They were questioned about the incident. At the request of the star, police spokeswoman Antje Schulz confirmed that the investigators expect at least three perpetrators, two of whom were seen at the money transporter. Among other things, it is now being checked how the robbers knew that so much money was being transported in the vehicle and which route it was taking.
After the third burned-out car was found, it was no longer clear what kind of vehicle the robbers were driving with, the police had scaled back their large-scale manhunt. Random checks will continue, it said. And forensics are running. “By default, colleagues abroad, for example in Poland and France, are also informed, but also the police departments in other federal states. The investigations are completely open – we are looking in all directions,” the spokeswoman told the star. The police are also hoping for witnesses who made observations about the robbery. The Gützkow junction to the B111 remained closed for hours.
