Overview
- After the December 22 explosion at a Sparkasse branch in Ehekirchen, officers tracked a red Alfa Romeo Stelvio to the Thierhaupten area, where an SEK used a spike strip and a ramming maneuver before detaining four men who tried to flee on foot.
- The Bavarian state police report no injuries at the bank, with the LKA still assessing damage and any stolen cash as forensic work examines the explosive, which a senior officer said was probably a fireworks‑type blitzknallsatz.
- Investigators say the suspects entered Germany from the Netherlands the evening before and are suspected members of a cash‑machine gang; they remain in custody pending judicial review.
- In a separate case in Bad Ems on December 26, an attempt to blow open a cigarette machine with a powerful firecracker left one man severely injured, and the criminal police have opened an investigation.
- Regional tallies point to a broad 2025 decline—Saarland logged one case versus nine in 2024 and Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern reported two versus four in 2024 and twelve in 2023—with authorities citing stronger safeguards, increased policing, investigative successes, and a November law raising penalties and powers.