Thanks to international cooperation, Hungarian and German police could catch all members of a crime gang blasting ATMs in Germany.
According to Index, the European investigation started in 2018 in the case of Tamás K. and his companions, after a warrant issued by the public prosecutor of Frankfurt am Main. Based on their information, the crime gang blasted ATMs with the help of a gas mixture. In the gang, there were seven Hungarians and one German.
The public prosecutor of Debrecen entrusted local police to help the operation of the German authorities regarding the issue. They ascertained that there was a direct link between the wealth gain of the suspects and the robberies in Germany, so they started a money-laundering investigation. They found that the money they took from the blasted ATMs is legalised in Hungary with the help of some companies within the interest of the group.
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Based on the evidence, the Hungarian and the German police established a unit to catch members of the crime gang.
On December 7, Hungarian partners briefed their German colleagues who caught Tamás K. and two other members of the gang, Balázs K. (39) and Zsolt Z. (45), and the only German member of the gang in Germany. More than 100 police officers cooperated to get back the stolen money. Apart from this, four men were caught in Hajdúnánás, Nyíregyháza, and Budapest. The detectives searched their homes and seized money (EUR and HUF) as well as weapons with ammunition. Moreover, they froze their bank accounts and went through their bank safes.
The four men who were caught have already been interrogated and are suspected of the explosions and other crimes. Eurojust and Europol helped the cooperation of the German and the Hungarian authorities who were able to take down the gang.
Source: index.hu, police.hu
