In North Rhine-Westphalia, fewer and fewer ATMs are being blown up. The special commission at the Ministry of the Interior, which deals with combating ATM blasts, has presented the results for the first half of 2024. According to the report, 18 ATMs were blown up. In the previous year, there were 88 blasts in the same period. In the current year, 18 suspects have already been arrested.
Herbert Reul: "ATM blasters are increasingly giving North Rhine-Westphalia a wide berth. This is not a happy coincidence, but the good work of the NRW police. The SoKo BEGAS has found an effective recipe for combating the blasters. The instruction leaflet for combating ATM burglars contains: optimized crime scene work, cross-state cooperation and prevention. The banks are also on board and have retrofitted their machines. The arrests of blasters and their henchmen are causing unrest in the scene. The fight against modern bank robbery is now being conducted in a tactically and strategically smarter way. This makes NRW a role model for the whole of Germany."
In 2023, there were 153 blasts in North Rhine-Westphalia. In 2022, there were 182.
Most recently, five suspects suspected of being involved in several blasts in North Rhine-Westphalia were arrested in The Hague in mid-June. The investigation was conducted by the Düsseldorf police.
In addition, the Dortmund police and the Münster police were successful in their investigations into hand-held warehouses. These are vehicle rental companies that provide vehicles to the perpetrators in the knowledge that they will be used to commit crimes. Most recently, car rental companies from North Rhine-Westphalia and the Netherlands were arrested at the beginning of March. The arrests have permanently weakened the perpetrator structures.
Several factors are responsible for the decline in the number of blasts. These include improved investigative work and operations management, prevention, national and international cooperation as well as close and trusting cooperation with the banks. In addition to many successful investigations, the preventive measures taken by banks and savings banks are having a particular impact. Equipping ATMs with ink cartridges in the branches of some banks has meant that the loot is largely worthless to the professionally operating Dutch perpetrators.
In May 2022, the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of the Interior set up a special commission (SoKo BEGAS for short) to combat and investigate blasts. The BEGAS special commission takes a holistic approach in the fight against ATM blasters. Numerous measures that interlock and complement each other are crucial to success in the fight against ATM blasts.
The perpetrators often cross the border from major Dutch cities in high-powered sports cars. The focus is on ATMs near the highway, as this makes it easier to escape. In the past, North Rhine-Westphalia has often been the target of blasters due to its good infrastructure and the many, often still poorly secured ATMs as well as a long border with its Dutch neighbor.