Cash machine explosion in Kunratice: three foreigners arrested in Romania, facing eight years imprisonment
Detectives have caught three foreigners suspected of the blown-up cash machine in Prague's Kunratice district. They stole over 300,000 crowns from the cash box; the total damage exceeded 900,000 crowns.
Detectives tracked down three suspects after cash machine explosion in Prague-Kunratice
Google News CZ — Crime (cs) reports on the arrest of three foreigners suspected of an explosion and robbery at a cash machine in Prague's Kunratice district. The crime occurred on 7 May of this year.
Shortly before dawn, a powerful explosion was heard from Dobronická Street. The perpetrators used explosives to completely destroy the cash machine and steal the cash box containing over 300,000 crowns. They then departed on electric scooters. Shop windows of several neighbouring businesses were also damaged. The total damage caused exceeded 900,000 crowns.
Detectives immediately secured all available CCTV footage following the incident. As they had been dealing with similar cases previously, they examined the possibility of a connection to a previous crime, and the investigation gradually revealed circumstances that linked both cases together. Detectives managed to identify one of the suspects through their own investigation; colleagues from Romania assisted in identifying the second.
In mid-June 2026, two further cash machine explosions occurred in Bratislava. The method of execution and description of the perpetrators matched the Kunratice case, so Prague detectives established cooperation with their Slovak colleagues. Monitoring the movement of suspects in the Schengen area showed that both men had crossed Schengen borders and were heading towards Slovakia. In response to this, both the Czech and Slovak sides took measures to detain them.
Two days after crossing the borders, another cash machine robbery took place in Bratislava. Slovak colleagues were unable to apprehend the suspects, but Romanian police succeeded — they caught them at the Hungarian-Romanian border crossing. Among those arrested are both men identified in connection with the Kunratice case.
"Three persons in total have been arrested — foreigners aged thirty, thirty-three and thirty-six — who are currently in extradition custody in Romania, from where they will be transferred to Slovakia under extradition procedures, and then they will go to the Czech Republic after serving their sentence. The suspects are accused of committing the criminal offence of theft and damaging another's property, for which, given the scale of damage caused, they face a prison sentence of up to eight years," said Prague police spokesman Richard Hrdina.
Throughout the cross-border coordination, Prague detectives cooperated with the Office of the Criminal Police Service and Investigation of the Police Presidium.
Source: Google News CZ — Crime (cs)