They are literally breaking the bank.
Police in Germany rounded up 42 people suspected of blowing up ATM cash machines, the Washington Post reported.
The detentions were part of a crackdown on thieves who destroy the machines in order to steal cash, a type of vandalism that has plagued the country in recent years.
Last year alone, there were 496 cases, a 27% increase over 2021, the German Interior Ministry said.
This past week, police in seven of Germany’s 16 states searched more than 5,300 vehicles and 8,000 people.
“The dramatic increase in cash-machine bombings often carried out with highly dangerous explosives, threatens the lives of uninvolved third parties,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said.
The brazen crime spree involves suspects breaking open the front part of an ATM and dousing the port where money typically comes out with explosive gas, according to a report from the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation.
The report said the thieves have grabbed more than $1.3 million since they started in 2016.
In an effort to prevent the attacks, ATMs in bank foyers in Germany will be closed at night, when most of the incidents occur, Bloomberg reported.
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