Investigators from Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg have arrested four suspected ATM bombers in the Netherlands. The men are between the ages of 25 and 30 and live in the Netherlands, the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office said on Thursday in Munich. In addition to members of the Dutch authorities, investigators from Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg were also involved in the police operation. In total, more than 100 emergency services, several prosecutors and judges were involved.
For several months, the authorities have been jointly investigating a group of ATM blasters, to whom, according to current findings, at least six ATM blasts nationwide have been assigned, it said. During the arrest and search operation in the Netherlands on Wednesday, nine objects were searched and four people were arrested.
“The Bavarian State Criminal Police Office, together with the Bamberg public prosecutor’s office and the Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office, have succeeded in another serious blow against an unscrupulous ATM buster gang,” said Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU). The evidence and data carriers seized would now be “meticulously evaluated” in order to identify other accomplices or backers if necessary.
According to Herrmann, those arrested are suspected of having blown up ATMs with solid explosives at at least six crime scenes in Germany since April, two of them in Bavaria. The total damage to property and loot caused was around 1.5 million euros. “The criminal gang worked very professionally, but also absolutely ruthlessly,” he emphasized. In addition to causing extensive damage to property, the blasts also endangered residents and uninvolved third parties.
