23 ATMs have already been blown up in Hesse this year alone, most recently last week in Bad Homburg and Offenbach, among others. In the future, Interior Minister Peter Beuth (CDU) will rely even more on the fact that the credit institutions in Hesse voluntarily invest in protective measures to deter the unscrupulous perpetrators. However, Beuth would not close himself off to a legal regulation according to which banks nationwide could be prescribed a higher level of technical protection, said the minister on Wednesday at the presentation of the annual balance sheet of the "Allianz ATMs".

Daniel Schleidt

Coordinator of the business editorial department in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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The initiative for the prevention of such explosive attacks, which was founded by the Hessian Ministry of the Interior in May last year, was joined by 15 banks at the start, and the number of members has now grown to 56. But according to Beuth, this is still not enough. After all, the perpetrators, who are attributable to organized, international crime, can only be permanently deterred if there is comprehensive protection of ATMs.

However, Hesse is still a long way from achieving this. So far, only 40 banks have provided the State Office of Criminal Investigation with the necessary data, so that only about 2000 of the approximately 4500 ATMs in Hesse have carried out a risk analysis, with which experts measure how likely it is that the perpetrator groups could take on this location on the basis of criteria such as proximity to the motorway. "We are counting on other banks to join voluntarily," said Beuth. However, the Hessian initiative is unique in Germany and other federal states are not so far, Beuth added. He therefore considers it possible that the next conference of interior ministers in June could vote in favour of mandatory protective measures.

"Trail of devastation"

After all, hardly a week goes by in Germany without an ATM being blown up. Nationwide, there were 494 explosions last year, more than ever before since the crime was included in the crime statistics. The perpetrators captured 1.9 million euros, plus property damage of 2.5 million euros. The perpetrators not only left a trail of devastation in their raids, but also a decreasing sense of security among the population. Because they do not take life and limb into account, said Beuth, pointing out that numerous vending machines are housed in residential buildings. "We are fortunate that there have been no major personal injuries here yet."

Allianz's banks have already invested six million euros in protective measures. The Wiesbaden-based Nassauische Sparkasse is providing 300.100 million euros to secure its approximately 1 vending machines at 7 locations this year alone, and last year alone it was affected four times by explosions. Even if no money was captured, board member Michael Baumann says it is in the banks' own interest that the machines and the people in the affected residential buildings are safe. After all, the company wants to continue to ensure the supply of cash to customers.

In the meantime, all Naspa locations are closed from 22 p.m. to 6 a.m. and are also secured with video surveillance. Even more effective, however, are likely to be the coloring systems that are now gradually being used and that ensure that banknotes are unusable due to ink cartridges when they are blown up.

Blowing up ATMs: Memories of bank robberies

Similar measures have been taken in recent years in the Netherlands, where bonding techniques are mainly used, to reduce the number of blasting operations to almost zero. This is also the goal of Beuth and the President of the State Office of Criminal Investigation, Andreas Röhrig. Röhrig recalled that there had once been a four-digit sum of bank robberies per year in Germany, but that this number had also been mastered thanks to technical aids, it is now only in the low double-digit range.

For the Hessian police, the fight against vending machine explosions is now at the top of the list of priorities. In addition to the risk assessment, extensive search concepts and cross-border controls were part of the measures taken by the officials.

Police: Arrests in the fight against ATM blasters

According to Röhrig, both have already led to successes. Two out of three perpetrators have already been caught after a blast last Sunday in Bad Homburg, two men from the Netherlands. A total of 2019 suspects have already been identified by the Hessian police since 50, and more than 20 have been convicted. In court, the acts are increasingly classified as attempted homicide because of the endangerment of people, so that higher penalties are possible. It is also important to act as a deterrent, according to Beuth.

In addition to dyeing and bonding techniques, banks also rely on fogging, such as Sparkasse Darmstadt, which operates 73 ATMs. If the locked site is broken into at night, the room is fogged in such a way that it is not possible to blow it up. CEO Sascha Ahnert hopes that this will prevent explosions – especially since, as Ahnert's colleague Baumann said, the banks also have to deal with the fact that they are no longer wanted as tenants for locations of vending machines in some cases because of the risk situation or that they are moving out of adjacent tenants. "We have to get to the point where it is no longer worthwhile to blow it up," said Beuth. Ahnert, on the other hand, believes that the criminals could in turn adapt the protective mechanisms and come up with new methods. "In the fight against the blasters, we will need staying power."