GERMANY: In highly skilled robberies, organized criminal gangs in the Netherlands and France, primarily made up of migrants from Morocco, are blowing up ATMs in Germany at an unprecedented rate.
According to government statistics, the gangs destroyed 500 ATMs in 2022, which is statistically more than one machine per day.
The gangs blew up and looted 500 ATMs in Germany
Germans use cash as their primary source of monetary transactions, and to meet this demand, banks operate nearly 100,000 ATMs across Germany. These machines typically contain cash worth between €50,000 and €100,000.
Criminal gangs take advantage of large amounts of money being stored inside ATMs. The miscreants employ extreme tactics to gain access to this money. It is said that these criminal networks meticulously plan out their operations, including the initial surveillance, demolition, and escape.
Additionally, the police claim that they act with cruelty and brutality, putting lives in danger.
In Germany, the migrant gangs detonate explosives in banks that are so potent that they destroy entire structures. They have blown up bank vault doors to 30 meters away in some instances, demonstrating how powerful these blasts can be.
Many of these banks are located in residential buildings of Germany. The threat to Germans is unprecedented, according to the police.
According to police sources in Germany obtained by a media house, although the final number has not yet been released, there were a record-high 500 bank heists in 2022.
Germany’s interior ministry held high-level meetings on the issue, but the robbery teams are not slowing down. The Federal Criminal Police reported 414 attempted or successful demolitions in 2021, and the same number occurred in 2020.
According to the authorities, the gangs are most active in the west of Germany, with Lower Saxony and North-Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous states, as their most popular targets.
The states are close to the Netherlands, where most gangs are active. However, some teams also operate out of France.
The gangs typically target banks close to significant motorways to make a quick getaway. Most banks are targeted in the early morning when the roads are mostly empty.
The gangs typically collaborate in teams, each member serving a distinct function. In one incident, the group doused garbage cans with gasoline and set them on fire in the middle of the road near the small town of Heusenstamm in Hesse.
The fire effectively blocked both lanes of traffic. If everything goes according to their plans, then the police wouldn’t be able to pursue their getaway vehicle due to the roadblock caused by the fire.
Two men in tracksuits and face masks pried open the Commerzbank’s door. They were caught on camera opening the ATM’s cash slots and filling them with oxygen and acetylene, the bomb’s ingredients, using a hose. A gang member in a BMW 320d parked behind the bank, then set off the bomb.
Media reports compared the precision and speed of the men’s work with that of a racing team at a pit stop.
The robbery at Commerzbank is only one such instance where the criminals deployed explosive tactics to gain access to the money.
Nearly every night, Germany is rocked by such explosions, which frequently cause far more harm than the tens of thousands of euros lost through the machines.
According to media reports, strong explosions have caused severe damage to buildings and forced residents to be evacuated. The following morning, the videos of explosions in supermarkets, buildings, and other public spaces frequently air on German news.
During a court trial for a gang member whom police were able to apprehend, a judge from Hesse referred to the inner cities of Germany as suffering “war-like damage” during the sentence. Prosecutor’s office police described the gang as carrying out “explosive attacks in public spaces.”
In such instances, the distinction between robbery and terrorism is beginning to blur.
Swen Eigenbrodt, the lead investigator of a special new unit within the Hessian State Criminal Police Office (LKA), said that it is a miracle that the criminal acts haven’t resulted in any deaths yet. The unit has actively targeted the gangs involved in the state’s ATM heists.
Some perpetrators have been arrested frequently for their errors at the crime scenes.
Some, for instance, left fingerprints at the scene, speed-trap cameras have stopped others as they tried to flee, and others are caught with their smartphones, which record their movements.
Despite the pieces of evidence, there aren’t many arrests made at the scene of the crime because the teams move quickly. And even though the German police arrest the miscreants, there are enough teams working to keep the number of explosion-powered robberies going up.
The Dutch city of Utrecht is thriving but also has poverty-ridden areas where up to 60% of the population comes from other countries. Most of these organized gangs originate in this city, and authorities in the Netherlands and Germany are working together to end them.
Cyrille Fijnaut, a professor emeritus in Dutch criminology, has been observing these ATM heist teams for 20 years and is an active advisor to the Dutch government.
He stated that between 200 and 400 young men make up the criminal network and that “many of them have Moroccan roots.” He said they frequently follow in the footsteps of older boys in their communities who wear high-end watches and drive sports cars.
One of the most potent gang members established his ATM demolition crew training facility a few years ago.
He rented a factory building, placed an order for discarded ATMs, and began training members in what acted as a gang school. However, these criminal organizations are also present in cities like Alkmaar and Amsterdam.
Vito Shukrula, a well-known Dutch defence lawyer, also stated that these heists were used as “seed” money to join the Dutch cocaine trade. For these teams, he described it as “easy money.”
News reports have previously reported that the drug trade in the Netherlands brings in billions of dollars annually for the Moroccan Mafia.
The criminal organization is known for killing its rivals, witnesses to the state’s case, and even journalists.
The 18-year-old Dutch Princess Amalia had to go into hiding a few months ago due to credible threats of kidnapping and assassination. The Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has also increased his security due to the group’s threats.
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