If the facades around ATMs were better secured, much damage in the event of explosions could be prevented. That says explosives expert Ad van Riel. “If you use the right materials, facades no longer just fly off. Now it’s like gingerbread.”
Last Thursday it was hit again: a big thud at an ATM in Kinkerstraat. There was a lot of damage to the store, for example a large part of the front came down. No one was injured, but according to explosives expert Ad van Riel, that was a stroke of luck. “It’s a good thing no one was around, otherwise it could have gone really wrong with an explosion like this one.”
But according to Van Riel, the ravages that we always see in the event of major explosions could easily be prevented if the facades in which the ATMs are located were better protected.
“If you use the right materials, facades cannot completely come out or shards fly around,” he says. In addition, in order to stop the explosions, he believes the chance of being caught must be much greater and it must be ruled out that there is any chance of looting at all.
Hit more often
There have been about 40 explosions in the city since January this year, five of which were explosions at ATMs. Mayor Femke Halsema told at the beginning of this month the Conversation with the Mayor that she would like the power to ban ATMs in high-risk areas in the city. “Now residents have to raise it themselves to get rid of it. Until I have the authority, you keep places that are risky. The residents are also well aware of that,” Halsema said at the time.
Geldmaat says that thieves can never be completely prevented. “Where there is money, there are criminals,” said the spokesman. “We look at all locations: whether people live above it, whether it is an old building or whether it is a new building. In an old building the construction is often not good enough to withstand an explosion and no ATMs installed”.
Since 2019, Geldmaat has been turning off the money machines at night to prevent thieves. The squat in Kinkerstraat last week was an ATM, which is an ATM of a private company.