Robbers stole gold, jewellery and cash worth around 30 million euros ($35 million) from a German bank in the city of Gelsenkirchen during the extended Christmas break, using a large drill to break into the bank’s underground vault, police and bank officials said on Tuesday.
The thieves, who remain at large, smashed open more than 3,000 safe deposit boxes at a branch of Sparkasse savings bank in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia before fleeing with the loot.
Bank officials told German news agencies that the branch was “broken into over the Christmas holidays” and that “more than 95 percent of the 3,250 customer safe deposit boxes were broken into by unknown perpetrators”.
Police said the robbers drilled their way into the vault room from
a parking garage connected to the building.
As news of the robbery spread, hundreds of distressed customers gathered outside the branch on Tuesday, demanding information. The bank remained closed for security reasons.
German businesses were shut on Thursday and Friday last week for Christmas, and investigators believe the gang may have spent several days inside the building, breaking open the deposit boxes during the holiday period.
The robbery came to light after a fire alarm was triggered in the early hours of Monday, prompting emergency services to investigate and discover the hole leading into the vault.
Witnesses reported seeing several men carrying large bags in the stairwell of the parking garage during the night between Saturday and Sunday, police said. Security camera footage later showed a black Audi RS 6 leaving the garage early on Monday morning with masked individuals inside.
‘Professionally executed’
Police said the car’s licence plate had been stolen earlier from the city of Hanover.
A police spokesman told AFP that the break-in was “indeed very professionally executed”, likening it to the heist movie Ocean’s Eleven.
“A great deal of prior knowledge or a great deal of criminal energy must have been involved to plan and carry this out,” the spokesman said.
Police said the safe deposit boxes had an average insurance value of more than 10,000 euros, putting the estimated damage at around 30 million euros. Several victims have told investigators that their losses were far higher than the insured amounts.
The police spokesman said “disgruntled customers” had gathered outside the branch, where staff had received threats, prompting authorities to maintain a security presence.
“We’re still on site, keeping an eye on things,” he said, adding that “the situation has calmed down considerably”.
The bank said it had set up a customer hotline and would inform all affected account holders in writing, while working with insurance providers to process claims.
“We are shocked,” said bank spokesman Frank Krallmann. “We are standing by our customers and hope that the perpetrators will be caught.”
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