Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
As a town in western Germany slept over the Christmas holidays, thieves broke into a bank vault and disappeared with millions.
Thieves broke into the safe of a savings bank in western Germany over the Christmas holidays, stealing cash, gold and jewelry worth an estimated $105 million, police and the bank said.
According to police on Tuesday, the perpetrators used a large drill to break through a thick concrete wall of a branch of the Sparkasse bank in the town of Gelsenkirchen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. By breaking in from an adjacent parking lot, the thieves gained access to an underground vault and forced open more than 3,000 safes.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 elementsend of list
Thomas Nowaczyk, a police spokesman, said investigators estimate the total value of the stolen items could be between 10 and 90 million euros ($11.7 million and $105.7 million).
German news agency DPA reported that the theft could be one of the largest in the country’s history.
Sparkasse confirmed that the agency had been “robbed during the Christmas holidays”, specifying that “more than 95 percent of the 3,250 customer safes had been broken into by unknown persons”.
The crime allegedly took place while businesses were closed for the extended Christmas holiday. Police suspect the gang may have remained inside the building for several days, taking advantage of the long holiday weekend to break into the vaults undetected.
The theft was not revealed until early Monday morning, when a fire alarm went off. Emergency services arriving on site discovered the hole leading to the vault.
Witnesses later told police they saw several men carrying large bags in the parking lot stairwell overnight Saturday and Sunday.
Security camera footage also showed a black Audi RS 6 leaving the garage early Monday morning, with masked individuals inside. The vehicle was later identified as having a license plate belonging to a stolen car in Hanover, more than 200 km (124 miles) northeast of Gelsenkirchen.
Ocean’s Eleven-esque
A police spokesperson described the operation as highly organized, comparing it to a Hollywood-style heist, resembling that of Ocean’s Eleven.
The break-in was “indeed executed in a very professional manner”, he told the AFP news agency.
“A large amount of prior knowledge and/or a large amount of criminal energy must have been involved in planning and carrying this out,” he added.
Police said the average insured value of each safe was more than 10,000 euros ($11,700). However, officers said several victims said the contents of their boxes were worth significantly more than the insured amount.
On Tuesday, hundreds of customers gathered outside the bank to demand answers. The agency remained closed for security reasons after threats were reportedly made against staff.
“I couldn’t sleep last night. We have no information,” one man told Welt, saying he had used the safe for 25 years and stored his retirement savings there.
Nowaczyk, the police spokesman, said officers remained at the scene to monitor the situation. “We are still on site and monitoring the situation,” he said, adding that “the situation has calmed down considerably.”
The bank said it had set up a helpline for affected customers and would contact them in writing as soon as possible. She added that she was working with insurers to determine how claims would be handled.
“We are shocked,” said Frank Krallmann, a bank spokesman. “We stand with our clients and hope that the perpetrators will be arrested. »
Police said the suspects remained at large and investigations were ongoing.
A spokesperson for Sparkasse Bank in Gelsenkirchen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
