Spanish bank refuses to remove ATM after 350 have exploded in Germany

Residents of a German town are demanding that Banco Santander remove an ATM for fear that it will explode.

A community of residents in the German town of Ratinger (North Rhine) is demanding that Banco Santander remove an ATM from the basement of one of its buildings for fear that it will explode.
According to the local police, behind the explosions are organised crime gangs that use explosives to dismantle ATMs and take the cash inside, German newspaper Frankfurt Allgemeine Seitan reports.
Known as the “Plofkraaker” or “crackers,” the criminal gangs, supposedly of Dutch origin, rob ATMs at night or in the early hours of the morning, transporting the money in vehicles within minutes.
On March 21, the sentence on this complaint filed by the group of residents is scheduled to be made public, according to a statement from the Düsseldorf Territorial Court reported in the media.
According to reports, the building is located on a street through in which two highways can be reached in a few minutes and, for two years, the residents have demanded the withdrawal of the ATM.
However, the Spanish banking entity refused to remove it on the grounds that it is part of a bank’s services.
The Provincial Court of Düsseldorf had already rejected the complaint in November 2020, however, the residents decided to appeal to a higher entity.
Judges claim that the likelihood of the ATM exploding is too low, considering 7,000 ATMS exist throughout the country but the amount that has been blown open is just 350.

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