December 31, 2025, 07:12December 31, 2025, 07:23
After the spectacular million-dollar coup in a Gelsenkirchen savings bank branch, the police are looking for the fugitive tank busters. They used a special drill to drill into the vault and then broke open almost all of the 3,250 customer safe deposit boxes.
The perpetrators broke into the vault from the archive room.Image: Gelsenkirchen police
The loot was initially roughly stated as the insured sum of around 30 million euros, but could also be significantly higher. “We are assuming a mid-double-digit million amount,” said a police spokesman. This would make it one of the biggest coups in German criminal history.
The number of injured bank customers is estimated at more than 2,500. Many of them had gathered in front of the branch over the past two days and expressed dissatisfaction about the lack of information from their financial institution. There were tumultuous scenes.
How did the coup go?
Emergency services discovered the break-in in the Buer district of Gelsenkirchen early on Monday morning after an alarm from the fire alarm system. The perpetrators first broke into an archive room through several doors, from which they worked their way into the bank’s vault using the special drill.
Witnesses observed several men with large bags in the stairwell of an adjacent parking garage on the night from Saturday to Sunday. Video cameras in the parking garage captured a high-powered black car with a license plate stolen in Hanover early on Monday morning. There were masked people in the car.
Prey can be much bigger
How much cash, gold and valuables the perpetrators stole remains to be determined. Because the banks don’t know what is stored in the safe deposit boxes. Those affected must now be contacted. According to Sparkasse Gelsenkirchen, each locker is insured for 10,300 euros.
Pandemonium in front of the bank branch
Discontent visibly grew among the concerned customers on Tuesday. For the second day in a row, a crowd gathered outside the branch. Around 200 people were waiting in front of the branch at times. “We want in, we want in!” demanded a loud chant. When people stormed into the anteroom, the police had to intervene.
Because the banks don’t know what is stored in the customers’ safe deposit boxes.Image: Christoph Reichwein/dpa
During the day, the bank released some information on the Internet. “Depending on the security situation, a decision will be made about opening the Buer branch,” it said.
Previous fire alarm
Could the break-in have possibly been noticed earlier? As the police now report, there was already a fire alarm in the bank building on Saturday. At that time, the police and fire brigade were on site around 6:15 a.m., but “couldn’t find anything that suggested there was any damage,” according to the latest report. According to the information, the exact procedures of this operation are also the subject of ongoing investigations. (sda/dpa)
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