Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - According to the police, the number of explosive attacks on ATMs in North Rhine-Westphalia has more than doubled in the first half of the year. By the end of June, 105 explosive attacks had been counted, the State Criminal Police Office in Düsseldorf said on request. In the first six months of the previous year, there were 44 attacks. At the beginning of the year, the increase had temporarily even quintupled.
Last year, 151 attacks were registered in NRW. This corresponded to a decrease of 14 percent compared to the record year 2020, when 176 explosive attacks were counted. If the number of explosive attacks continues this year with the same intensity, the record of 176 explosions should be exceeded.
In the spring, NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) intensified the fight against the gangsters. At night, the police are nationwide "on the streets with all available forces," he said. A new additional special commission in the Ministry of the Interior is intended to increase the pressure on the perpetrators.
"ATM blasts are a phenomenon that has literally been flying around our ears since the beginning of the year," Reul said. The deeds have become even more dangerous since the phenomenon occurred because the gangsters increasingly used explosives instead of gas to crack the increasingly secure machines.
The investigators of the LKA special commission "Heat" assume that many of the explosions can be attributed to a scene of several hundred North African immigrants in the Netherlands. However, the investigators had repeatedly caught German suspects as imitators.
The gangsters were dubbed the "Audi gang" in the media because of their penchant for high-powered, high-horsepower Audi getaway vehicles. Just a few days ago, the investigators reported 13 arrests of suspected automatic sprinklers.
There are around 11,000 ATMs in North Rhine-Westphalia. They are currently undergoing a risk assessment. Not only an improvement in security measures, but also the dismantling of machines at particularly endangered locations is no longer taboo.
