Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - The number of ATM demolitions in North Rhine-Westphalia continues to rise. This year there have already been around 130 cases, as the "Westfälische Nachrichten" reported on Monday, citing the NRW Ministry of the Interior. 19 suspects were identified and arrested.
In August, the ministry had already reported that the number of blasts in the first quarter had more than tripled compared to the same period last year and that the brutality of the perpetrators had increased.
Because of this development, the special commission (Soko) against ATM blasts, which was actually only set up for six months, will be extended by a further six months until the end of March 2023, announced Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU). "I think we're taking the right approach to countering the phenomenon," he told the newspaper. "We are making progress in the field of prevention and are in fruitful exchange with the banks." Among other things, the five-strong Soko have introduced new forensic standards for this crime field and increased cooperation with the Dutch authorities.
At the end of February there was a "bank summit" in the Ministry of the Interior, at which the financial institutions, together with the police, took measures to assess the risk of the approximately 11,000 ATMs in North Rhine-Westphalia. The ministry had put the total damage caused by ATM blasts at around 10.7 million euros for the first half of 2022 alone.
