In the early hours of 16 October 2024, Dutch, French, and German police forces arrested three members of a violent criminal network that carried out attacks on cash machines using explosives. Europol brought together investigators from the three countries in order to take down the criminals, who are believed to have looted millions of euros and caused a similar sum in property damage from 2022 to 2024. 

As part of an action day conducted in several locations across the Netherlands, France, and Germany, law enforcement also searched car rental companies whose vehicles had been used to flee crime scenes. This particular criminal network was one of the first to use locations in France as hideaway spots and rely on getaway cars rented from a French rental company. These raids led to extensive evidence being secured, thus facilitating the investigations into wider members, logisticians and supporters of the arrested suspects. 

Unscrupulous attacks with severe collateral damage

For several years now, perpetrators have increasingly been using solid explosives - originating mainly from fireworks - to blow up ATMs. This has significantly augmented the danger and collateral damage of their attacks. The criminals, who are often based in the Netherlands, take extreme risks and act unscrupulously, both at the crime scene and when escaping in high-powered vehicles. As they are often carried out in residential areas, explosive attacks on cash machines and subsequent high-speed escapes can cause serious harm to buildings and residents.
To fight this phenomenon, law enforcement agencies from the affected countries are continuously expanding their cross-border collaboration. For this particular operation, Europol brought Dutch, French, and German investigators together to work on an intelligence picture and to plan the coordinated action day. One Europol specialist with a mobile office was deployed to the coordination centre in order to cross-check the operational reslts against Europol’s databases.