As part of an action day conducted in several locations across the Netherlands, France, and Germany, law enforcement also searched car rental companies whose vehicles had been used to flee crime scenes. This particular criminal network was one of the first to use locations in France as hideaway spots and rely on getaway cars rented from a French rental company. These raids led to extensive evidence being secured, thus facilitating the investigations into wider members, logisticians and supporters of the arrested suspects.Unscrupulous attacks with severe collateral damageFor several years now, perpetrators have increasingly been using solid explosives - originating mainly from fireworks - to blow up ATMs. This has significantly augmented the danger and collateral damage of their attacks. The criminals, who are often based in the Netherlands, take extreme risks and act unscrupulously, both at the crime scene and when escaping in high-powered vehicles. As they are often carried out in residential areas, explosive attacks on cash machines and subsequent high-speed escapes can cause serious harm to buildings and residents.To fight this phenomenon, law enforcement agencies from the affected countries are continuously expanding their cross-border collaboration. For this particular operation, Europol brought Dutch, French, and German investigators together to work on an intelligence picture and to plan the coordinated action day. One Europol specialist with a mobile office was deployed to the coordination centre in order to cross-check the operational reslts against Europol’s databases.Participating authorities:France:National Gendarmerie - Central Office for Fighting against Mobile Organised Criminal Groups (Gendarmerie Nationale - L'Office central de lutte contre la délinquance itinérante (OCLDI)Germany:Bundeskriminalamt Wiesbaden (Federal Criminal Police Office)Bamberg Public Prosecutor's Office (Staatsanwaltschaft Bamberg)Bavarian Police (Polizei Bayern)Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (Bayerisches LandeskriminalamtCriminal Police Düsseldorf (Kriminalpolizei Düsseldorf)Frankfurt am Main Public Prosecutor General's Office (Generalstaatsanwaltschaft Frankfurt)Mainz Public Prosecutor's Office (Staatsanwaltschaft Mainz)Police North Rhine-Westphalia (Polizei Nordrhein-Westfalen)Polizei Saxony-Anhalt (Polizei Sachsen-Anhalt)State Criminal Police Office Rhineland-Palatinate (Landeskriminalamt Rheinland-Pfalz)Netherlands:International Cooperation Team of the Public Prosecutor Amsterdam (Internationale Rechtshulp Centra (IRC) Amsterdam)International Cooperation Team of the Public Prosecutor North-Holland (Internationale Rechtshulp Centra (IRC) Noord- Holland)Police Noord-Holland (Politie Noord-Holland) 

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