Last year saw a decline in the occurrences of ATM explosions in Germany.
The German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) in Wiesbaden outlined that the obtained cash by wrongdoers in the previous year also saw a decline. This drop was 5.1% compared to the year prior, reaching 28.4 million euros. Despite the decrease, the BKA mentioned that the sum remained at a "relatively sizable figure." The reason behind this was the "high number of cases" where the bad actors successfully obtained cash following a successful explosion. This happened in a total of 276 instances.
In close to 90% of all planned explosions, as per the federal crime profile, strong explosives with high explosive force were utilized, representing a new surge. This technique leads to "substantial damage" and puts deployment forces and bystanders in "great danger," the BKA pointed out. The inclination of suspects to resort to violence remained substantial.
Last year marked the first occurrence of fatal traffic accidents in relation to "risky escape tactics."
Amid the uptick in cash machine explosions, authorities and politics have amplified their efforts against this issue, including placing more strain on banks to enhance the technical security of their cash machines. One option is devices that color-dye banknotes in the event of explosions, rendering them off-limits for wrongdoers.
The majority of these culprits maintain their operations from the Netherlands and belong to reputably proficient criminal organizations. As per the BKA, the number of suspects apprehended last year climbed by 57% compared to 2022 to 201. A staggering 89.6% of them journeyed abroad to commit the crime. A whopping 160 identified suspects hailed from the Netherlands - by far the largest segment.
The decrease in cash machine explosions and the elevated number of identified suspects is also owed to the intensified national and international collaboration among law enforcement agencies, as the BKA shared. Nevertheless, the risk remains "unaltered high." The battle against this predicament continues to be a top priority for German security authorities.
The year of manufacture of the devices used in these explosions remains unknown, as the BKA did not provide this information in their analysis. Despite the decline in cash obtained through machine explosions in the year of manufacture, the sum still presents a significant challenge for authorities.
