Ocean’s Eleven-Style Heist In German Bank, Robbers Vanish With ₹316 Crores
Robbers used a powerful drill to tunnel into a German bank’s underground vault during the extended Christmas break and escaped with cash, gold and jewellery worth around 30 million euros (about $35 million), officials and the bank said on Tuesday. The dramatic break-in took place in the western city of Gelsenkirchen in North Rhine-Westphalia, where thieves forced open more than 3,000 safe deposit boxes before fleeing with the valuables.
As the suspects remained on the run, hundreds of anxious customers gathered outside the affected Sparkasse branch on Tuesday, demanding details about their lockers and possible losses. Police said the gang gained access to the vault by drilling through from an adjacent parking garage into the basement strong room.
In a statement, the Sparkasse savings bank confirmed that the branch had been “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”. With businesses shut for Christmas on Thursday and Friday, investigators believe the robbers may have used the holiday period and weekend to spend hours, or even days, systematically forcing open the boxes.
The crime was discovered only after a fire alarm went off in the early hours of Monday, prompting emergency services to respond and find the hole leading into the vault. Witnesses later told police they had seen several men carrying large bags in the stairwell of the parking garage during the night from Saturday to Sunday.
Security camera footage captured a black Audi RS 6 driving out of the parking garage early Monday, with masked individuals inside. Police said the licence plates on the vehicle had been reported stolen earlier in the city of Hanover.
A police spokesman told AFP the break-in was “indeed very professionally executed” and compared it to the Hollywood heist film “Ocean’s Eleven”. “A great deal of prior knowledge and/or a great deal of criminal energy must have been involved to plan and carry this out,” he added.
Investigators estimate the damage at around 30 million euros, noting that the thousands of safe deposit boxes carried average insurance coverage of more than 10,000 euros each. Several customers, however, have already reported losses far above the insured amounts held on their lockers.
The police spokesman said “disgruntled customers” had gathered outside the bank, which remained closed for security reasons after staff received threats. “We’re still on site, keeping an eye on things,” he said, adding that “the situation has calmed down considerably”.
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Sparkasse said it has set up a dedicated hotline and will notify all affected customers in writing as soon as possible, while coordinating with the insurance company on how claims will be processed. “We are shocked,” bank press spokesman Frank Krallmann said, adding, “We are standing by our customers and hope that the perpetrators will be caught.”