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- Thieves in Germany drilled into a bank vault, stealing tens of millions in valuables (businessinsider.com)
** audacious Heist in Germany: Thieves Make Off with Millions from Bank Vault**
GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany – A daring Christmas weekend robbery has left a German bank reeling and thousands of customers in shock after thieves bypassed security to raid over 3,000 safe deposit boxes. The audacious heist, which authorities describe as a highly professional operation, netted valuables worth at least $36 million from the Sparkasse Gelsenkirchen branch in Buer.
Local police spokesman Thomas Nowaczyk expressed his amazement at the scale and execution of the crime, stating, “I would definitely say this is quite spectacular. I have never heard of any similar case, except on TV.”
The elaborate plot involved perpetrators breaking through a door before meticulously drilling through the concrete wall of the bank’s vault. The sheer precision of the hole suggests the use of specialized tools and a significant amount of time, ruling out any spontaneous action.
Sparkasse Gelsenkirchen has since informed its customers of the widespread breach, noting that “More than 95% of the customer safe deposit boxes were forced upon by the as-yet-unknown perpetrators.” While the insured value of the stolen contents stands at a minimum of 31 million euros (approximately $36 million), the true loss could be considerably higher, as many customers may have stored items exceeding their insurance limits.
The alarm was raised early Monday morning by a fire alarm at the bank, drawing first responders to the scene. In the days following the discovery, dozens of distraught individuals gathered outside the branch, grappling with the loss of irreplaceable family heirlooms and life savings.
One woman, her voice heavy with emotion, shared with DW News, “I fear my mother’s gold coin is gone. She passed away in 1988.
My grandmother’s gold bracelets, which I hoped would secure my daughter’s future.”
Criminology professor Michael Levi of Cardiff University suggests that holiday weekends often present opportunities for such crimes due to decreased security vigilance. He also posited that the thieves likely possessed “some level of inside information” to execute such a complex robbery, leading investigators to consider dissatisfied current or former employees, or contractors, as potential leads. Professor Levi categorized the incident as “the large end of the scale” for such robberies, highlighting its significant impact.
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- Thieves in Germany drilled into a bank vault, stealing tens of millions in valuables (businessinsider.com)