In what German authorities are calling one of the country's biggest thefts in history, a gang of thieves tunneled into a bank vault during the Christmas holidays, stealing valuables worth an estimated €30 million to potentially €100 million from thousands of safe deposit boxes.
The brazen heist targeted a Sparkasse savings bank in Gelsenkirchen, where the criminals drilled through 18 inches of concrete from an adjacent parking garage to access the underground vault. Police believe the gang spent much of the Christmas weekend inside the vault, systematically breaking open approximately 3,000 safety deposit boxes—more than 95% of the bank's inventory.
The robbery was discovered at 3:58 a.m. on December 29 when a fire alarm was triggered, bringing police and firefighters to the scene. By then, the perpetrators had vanished with their haul. Witnesses reported seeing several men carrying large bags in the parking garage during the night of December 27, and a black Audi RS 6 with masked occupants and stolen license plates was spotted leaving the garage in the early morning of December 29.
"This was indeed very professionally executed," a police spokesman told reporters, comparing the operation to the heist movie "Ocean's Eleven." He added that "a great deal of prior knowledge and/or a great deal of criminal energy must have been involved to plan and carry this out."
About 2,700 bank customers were affected by the theft. Several victims have told police that their losses far exceeded the insured value of their deposit boxes, suggesting the true value of stolen items could be significantly higher than initial estimates.
As of the latest reports, no arrests have been made and the identities of the criminals remain unknown. German authorities have launched an extensive investigation, but acknowledge that the robbers likely escaped the area well before police were alerted. The case has drawn comparisons to other famous European bank heists and has raised questions about security measures at financial institutions.
The heist may rank among the largest thefts in German history, according to the German news agency dpa.
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