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Thieves stolen items Up to $105 billion worth of safes held at a German retail bank in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia state, during the Christmas holidays, German police said Tuesday.
German news agency DPA reported that the theft could be one of the largest in the country’s history.
What happened and what was stolen?
The thieves broke into a branch of the Sparkasse bank in the town of Gelsenkirchen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia from an adjacent parking lot, according to police, at one point while businesses were closed for the Christmas holidays.
The German state is home to museums and Gothic architecture. Its capital, Düsseldorf, is known for its shopping boulevard and the Rheinturm telecommunications tower.
Using a large drill, the thieves broke through a thick concrete wall of the bank and gained access to an underground vault. They then forced the opening of some 3,000 safes, before fleeing with cash, gold and jewelry.
A police spokesperson compared the break-in to the film Ocean’s Eleven and described it as “executed in a very professional manner”, according to 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 out this,” the spokesperson told the agency.
The bank said that “more than 95 percent of 3,250 customer safes were broken into by unknown perpetrators.”
Police say they were alerted to the theft when a fire alarm went off on Monday, but have not confirmed exactly when the theft took place.
What is the value of the stolen items?
Investigators estimate the total value of the stolen items at between 10 and 90 million euros ($11.8 million to $105.7 million), according to police spokesman Thomas Nowaczyk.
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 amounts.
What do we know about thieves?
No arrests have been made and the thieves remain at large.
Security camera footage showed a black Audi RS 6 leaving the bank’s car park in the early hours of Monday, with masked people inside.
Police said the car’s license plate had been stolen earlier in the town of Hanover, about 200 km northeast of Gelsenkirchen, where the theft took place.
How did bank customers react?
On Tuesday, angry customers gathered outside the bank branch, demanding answers about the bank’s theft.
The police spokesperson told AFP that the bank branch remained closed for security reasons after threats were made against bank employees.
“We are still on site and monitoring the situation,” said the police spokesperson, quoted by AFP, adding that “the situation has calmed considerably.”
How did the bank react?
The bank is writing to inform all customers affected by the theft. It has also set up a customer hotline for those affected.
She said she was also working with insurers to determine how claims would be handled.
“We are shocked,” said Frank Krallmann, a bank spokesman. “We stand with our customers and hope that the perpetrators will be arrested.”
What other major heists have taken place recently?
October 2025: The Louvre, France
At the end of October, a gang of robbers broke into the Louvre museum in Paris and stole eight Napoleonic coins of jewelry in less than seven minutes. The thieves fled on motorbikes loaded with eight Napoleonic-era objects, dropping a ninth on the way out.
The value of the stolen jewelry was estimated at $102 million.
So far, French authorities have stopped eight suspects on the Louvre robbery.
The first four suspects, three men and a woman, were arrested, formally investigated and charged.
The last four suspects placed in police custody are two men aged 38 and 39 and two women aged 31 and 40, from the Paris region. They are being investigated as possible accomplices. The names of the arrested suspects have not been made public.
September 2025: Natural History Museum, France
On September 30, a 24-year-old Chinese woman was arrested in Barcelona on suspicion of stealing six gold nuggets from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. The gold nuggets were worth around 1.5 million euros ($1.76 million).
The woman was arrested while trying to dispose of the melted gold – it is unclear who melted it or how. The museum’s alarms and security system were disabled in a cyberattack, but it is also unclear whether the thieves were also behind this cyberattack or whether the theft was opportunistic.
March 2024: Los Angeles cash site, United States
Thieves stole at least $30 million in cash from a GardaWorld facility in Los Angeles over the Easter weekend.
GardaWorld is a global security company providing services such as facilities management, property management and cash management.
Local media called the heist one of the largest cash heists in Los Angeles history. No public announcement has been made that the burglars have been arrested.
