Germany bank heist nets about 30m euros in cash, valuables

BERLIN: Robbers used a large drill to break into a German savings bank’s vault room and steal cash, gold and jewelry worth some 30 million euros (USD35 million), police said Tuesday.

The heist in the western city of Gelsenkirchen saw the thieves break into more than 3,000 safe deposit boxes, they said.

While the criminals remained at large, hundreds of distressed bank customers massed outside the branch on Tuesday demanding information, but were kept at bay by police.

According to police, the robbers drilled their way into the underground vault room of the Sparkasse savings bank from a parking garage.

Investigators suspect the gang spent much of the weekend inside, breaking open the deposit boxes.

The break-in came to light after a fire alarm was triggered in the early hours of Monday and emergency services discovered the hole.

Witnesses reported seeing several men carrying large bags in the stairwell of the parking garage during the night from Saturday to Sunday.

Footage from security cameras has also shown a black Audi RS 6 leaving the parking garage early Monday morning, with masked persons inside. The car’s license plate had been stolen earlier in the city of Hanover, police said.

A police spokesman told AFP that the break-in was “indeed very professionally executed”, likening it to the heist movie “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 said.