Devastation after the explosion in Amsterdam-Noord: ‘Banknotes whirled around’
The destruction to his house on Sperwerlaan, where Austin was sleeping with some friends, is enormous. The shocked student stands outside in his socks. His shoes are under the rubble in the gang. All windows seem out, the front door can no longer close.
bombs
Last night at just before 4 a.m., Austin awoke to two robbers who had broken into an ATM machine, ten feet below his bedroom window. “I heard a bang. It looked like a bomb.”
Then two more explosions followed. “At first I thought lightning had struck. I heard glass tinkling and screams: ‘Police, police.’ Below me I heard the robbers busy. I didn’t dare look out the window.”
Scooter won’t start
Hacking two unknown perpetrators from the ATM, which is located between houses. The ATM is open all night for debit card transactions and is owned by Euronet.
After the squat, the perpetrators fled with a scooter, witnesses saw. “But the scooter didn’t start,” says a neighbor across the street who saw the crack happening from his window. For his safety, he does not want to be named.
yelling
“Local residents shouted: ‘police, police’ the two ran away,” the neighbor continues. According to local residents, the perpetrators were dressed in black and had on balaclavas.
“After the bangs, they ran to the vending machine to get banknotes. Banknotes were whirling around.”
loot
The police cannot say how much money the perpetrators made. Within minutes the police were present in large numbers. A police helicopter was also deployed.
Local residents were asked to stay inside last night because there may be more explosives. Austin: “We have to stay in our house, not knowing if there were more explosives under us. An unsafe feeling.”
devastation
Opposite the ATM, the havoc is great, it turns out today. Windows of several houses and cars look like this. Roof tiles have been knocked off the roofs.
Austin and his roommates can’t go back into their house. “The havoc is too great in our home. We need to sleep somewhere else the time.”
exploding
The outgoing ministers Ferd Grapperhaus (Justice) and Wopke Hoekstra (Finance) decided in 2019 with the Dutch Banking Association (NVB) to close ATMs at night because of the many thieves.
These are the ATMs of the banks and of Geldmaat. But not for private vending machines such as the ATM in Sperwerlaan where there was a thud last night.