The explosion that wrecked the ATM in La Herradura in the early hours of Tuesday the 10th of January was the work of a gang that specialises in this kind of robbery; this is the sixth in the province this month.

Although the BMN bank branch has not officially confirmed it, the gang is believed to have made off with around 4,000 euros.

CCTV footage shows that at least two men with balaclavas carried out the robbery, using solid explosives, which is the gang’s modus operandi. There was at least one person waiting outside in a get-away vehicle.

The explosion not only destroyed the ATM but it also smashed the glass of the front door and brought down a section of ceiling on the inside of the bank.

It’s not the first time that the gang has targeted a branch of the BMN, but it is the first time that they have gone for an ATM outside an industrial estate.

There are other gangs operating on the Costa del Sol, and on the east coast of Spain, as well as in the Madrid area, but they tend to use acetone peroxide, which is fairly easy to obtain or make. There is a stricter control on dynamite, however, which is what was used in this La Herradura robbery.

In the six robberies of this kind in the province, the total amount stolen is somewhere near 15,000 euros.

(News: Herradura Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia – Photo JM de Haro)