Germans will no longer be able to withdraw money at night from ATMs in bank foyers thanks to a surge in cash-machine bombings.
The number of attacks on ATMs using explosives surged 125% last year compared with 2020 to 250 and officials said Tuesday that the rising trend probably continued this year. Thieves have increasingly used solid explosive to blow open cash machines rather than gas.
"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 in Berlin after talks with banking, insurance and police officials.
"The bombings of cash machines can only be stopped by a set of efficient and nationwide prevention measures," she added.
As well as locking self-service foyers between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., banks are planning to install additional video surveillance and anti-intrusion measures like fogging systems. They will also reduce the amount of cash stored in ATMs.
