ATM explosion in Kunratice: three foreigners detained in Romania
Detectives have solved the explosion of an ATM in Prague's Kunratice district from May 2026. Three suspect foreigners were detained in Romania and face up to eight years in prison.
ATM blown up, damage exceeded 900,000 crowns
According to Google News CZ — Crime (cs), a powerful explosion rang out early in May on Dobronická Street in Prague's Kunratice district. Unknown perpetrators used explosives, completely destroyed the ATM and stole a cash box containing over 300,000 crowns. They then left the scene on electric scooters. The total damage caused exceeded 900,000 crowns, with several nearby shop windows also damaged.
Detectives linked it to an earlier case
The case was taken over by detectives from the 1st department of the regional force, who secured all available CCTV footage. Because they had been investigating a similar incident several months earlier, they examined the possibility of a connection between the two cases. Through more detailed investigation, they discovered circumstances that linked both acts together.
Through operational work, the detectives managed to identify one of the suspects. The identity of the second was established with the assistance of Romanian colleagues, with whom cooperation was initiated through a liaison officer of the Czech Police.
Series of explosions continued in Slovakia
In mid-June 2026, two similar ATM explosions struck Bratislava. The method of execution and descriptions of the perpetrators matched the Kunratice case. Prague detectives therefore made contact with Slovak colleagues and passed on information about both suspects.
Detectives tracked the movement of the suspects throughout the Schengen area. After receiving a message from Romanian colleagues that both men had left the Schengen zone and were heading to Slovakia, measures were prepared in the Czech Republic and Slovakia to detain them.
Arrest at the Hungarian-Romanian border crossing
Two days after crossing the Schengen border, another ATM break-in occurred in Bratislava. Slovak colleagues failed to apprehend the suspects, but Romanian police succeeded — at the Hungarian-Romanian border crossing they detained three individuals. Two of them are identical to the suspects in the Prague-Kunratice case.
A total of three foreigners aged thirty, thirty-three and thirty-six were detained. They are currently in extradition custody in Romania, from where they will be transferred to Slovakia as part of extradition proceedings. After serving any potential sentence, they will go to the Czech Republic, where they face up to eight years in prison for theft and damage to another's property.
Throughout the coordination, Prague detectives worked closely with colleagues from the Police Headquarters, specifically from the Criminal Police Service and Investigation Office.
Source: Google News CZ — Crime (cs)