Jan 13, 2026, 2:12 p.mJan 13, 2026, 2:12 p.m
During the break-in at a savings bank in the western German city of Gelsenkirchen a few weeks ago, the perpetrators apparently entered the building through a manipulated escape door.
During the break-in at the end of December, the perpetrators had overcome several security systems.Image: keystone
The door actually couldn’t be opened from the outside, the police said. However, due to the manipulation, it no longer closed properly and the perpetrators were “allowed unhindered access from the parking garage to the savings bank building.”
During the break-in at the end of December, the perpetrators overcame several security systems and finally drilled a 40 centimeter hole directly into the vault of the Sparkasse branch in Gelsenkirchen-Buer. There they cleared out around 3,100 customer lockers. How the burglars managed to do this without setting off the bank’s burglar alarm is a central question in the investigation.
Among other things, it will be checked whether the alarm system was switched off or broken – or whether the perpetrators could have managed to outwit them, said the Interior Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Herbert Reul, at a special meeting of the Interior Committee of the state parliament – the federal state’s parliament. “A number of questions arise.”
230 investigators are looking for the gang
The police have now deployed 230 officers just to investigate the case. The claim is: “We’ll clear this thing up,” said Reul.
In any case, the gang was extremely targeted.Image: keystone
However, the work is arduous. After the crime, around 500,000 items were lying on the floor of the vault and the adjacent archive room. “It looks like a garbage dump,” said Reul. Everything now has to be examined meticulously. “There could be relevant traces on each of these objects.”
However, before escaping, the perpetrators had “contaminated the vault with various chemical liquids” in order to cover up traces of DNA, as the police said.
Did an insider help the criminals?
A police spokeswoman said whoever tampered with the door from the parking garage to the branch is under investigation. Recently there had been a lot of speculation about whether the perpetrators had help from an insider. Interior Minister Reul emphasized that this question needed to be investigated – but there was no concrete suspicion yet.
It is still unclear how long it took the perpetrators to break in.Image: keystone
In any case, the gang was extremely targeted. “You think you’re in a movie when it comes to professionalism and callousness,” said the minister. “It’s relatively likely that it wasn’t little Fritz who came up with something.”
Lockers were broken into early
It is still unclear how long it took the perpetrators to break in. The investigators said the break-in of the bank lockers began at 10:45 a.m. on December 27th. According to Reul, the bank had a computer system that logs every single opening of a locker – whether with a key or by force. According to police, the last time a locker was opened was at 2:44 p.m. on December 27th.
A police spokeswoman explicitly left it open whether all 3,100 compartments were opened in these four hours or whether the technology simply no longer recorded any data afterwards. In any case, the break-in was only discovered two days later, on December 29th, after the Sparkasse’s fire alarm system had been triggered for the second time.
The amount of the loot remains unclear
How much money and other valuables the perpetrators stole is still pure speculation, emphasized Reul. “Not even the savings bank knows what’s in there because each individual puts what they want into their compartment.”
The Gelsenkirchen savings bank boss Michael Klotz recently rejected criticism of the security technology.Image: keystone
The contents of each locker are insured through the savings bank up to a value of 10,300 euros. However, numerous safe deposit box owners have already stated through their lawyers that they have stored significantly higher values in their locker.
Lawyers are threatening a wave of lawsuits
Lawyers want to take legal action against the savings bank for the damage. The bank is threatened with “a wave of lawsuits of unimagined proportions,” said lawyer Daniel Kuhlmann of the German Press Agency (dpa). He sees signs of a breach of duty by the financial institution. Apparently there was no vibration detector in the vault and the burglars may have stayed in the bank undisturbed for 48 hours.
The Gelsenkirchen savings bank boss Michael Klotz recently rejected criticism of the security technology. “The branch with the locker room was secured according to the recognized state of the art,” emphasized Klotz. The measures have been continuously improved.
Reul said in the Interior Committee that the Sparkasse would have to take care of all liability issues. «If anyone has made a mistake, they must be held responsible. It’s always like that in life.”
Investigators evaluate eight terabytes of data
The investigation into serious gang theft could drag on for a long time. “We are dealing with one of the biggest criminal cases in the history of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia,” said Gelsenkirchen police chief Tim Frommeyer.
Eight terabytes of data have already been collected – including 10,000 hours of video material from surveillance cameras. Interior Minister Reul appealed that the investigators must now be given the necessary time. “The one clue you find at the very end is sometimes the one that helps you.” (sda/dpa)