Head office in Holland

“Demolition experts” are the new ATM mafia

A trail of devastation: as recently as October, a Dutch gang near Vienna blew up half the bank as well as the ATM.(Bild: Imre Antal)

Holland is now the center of ATM blasters. Dutch perpetrators blew up eight ATMs here in 2023 - in Germany it was a coup every day.

It was only at the end of last year that Dutch "master blasters" made headlines at Raiffeisen banks in Lower Austria and Upper Austria. The new ATM mafia consists of more than 500 members (mostly young men with migrant roots) and is based in the Dutch city of Utrecht. Every night, teams set out from there on raids across Europe.

Always in the early hours of the morning between 2 and 5 a.m., a huge bang wakes up the people living nearby.

No regard for human life
The perpetrators have no regard for human life in their series of crimes. They use stolen cars in daring chases and the explosions are sometimes so powerful that half the bank is blown up as well as the cash machine. Debris often flies dozens of meters!

367 cash machines

were blown up by Dutch perpetrators in our German neighbors last year. In their home country, banks have started to pick banknotes together after the coup - making them worthless.

In the professional criminals' home country, bank measures against this type of robbery are now highly successful. Captured banknotes are unusable because they automatically stick together after detonation. After the record year of 442 blasts by Dutch criminals in Germany in 2022, there were still 367 offenses last year - so a coup is committed every day.

While our neighbors are now beginning a trial against 16 Dutchmen who stole seven million euros from 90 ATMs, several suspects have also been arrested in Austria.