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Blown up ATM: Increased controls
Photo: René Priebe / dpa
Police officers have arrested a total of 77 people wanted with arrest warrants in several federal states. The officers picked up the people in a police operation lasting several days, as the State Criminal Police Office of Lower Saxony announced. The reason for the action was the search for ATM blasters. However, those now caught were all wanted for other crimes such as illegal residence or burglary.
From Sunday to Wednesday, officials carried out increased checks at night in areas where, from the point of view of the police, ATM explosions are more likely. According to the information, more than 8000 vehicles were checked nationwide. There were 239 criminal complaints and 197 investigations were initiated, including for traffic offenses or violations of the Narcotics Act.
The federal states of Lower Saxony, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein took part in the third action of this kind against ATM blasters. In addition, the Federal Police were deployed in Hanover, Koblenz and Sankt Augustin.
The consistent and cross-state action is having an effect, said Lower Saxony's Minister of the Interior, Daniela Behrens (SPD): "The number of cases in Lower Saxony is well below the previous year's level." In Lower Saxony, there has been a task force at the State Office of Criminal Investigation since the beginning of 2022 on the subject of ATM explosions. The unit also coordinated the action in the past few days.
Nationwide, the number of ATM explosions last year was higher than ever before, it said. The Germany-wide situation report of the Federal Criminal Police Office in 496 shows 2022 crimes. In 2023, the number of cases would be at a similarly high level so far. In almost all cases, so-called solid explosives were used, the high explosive power of which would also cause considerable damage to buildings and endanger people.
kfr/dpa