Berlin
Reuters
—
Police said on Tuesday that thieves took advantage of the quiet Christmas period to break into the vaults of a German retail bank and steal at least 10 million euros worth of cash and valuables from customers’ safe deposit boxes.
The suspects drilled through a thick concrete wall at a branch of Sparkasse Bank in the western city of Gelsenkirchen, broke into thousands of safe deposit boxes and stole an estimated double-digit million euros in cash, police said in a statement.
Most shops and banks in Germany were closed during the Christmas period, which began on the night of December 24, and police discovered the hole after a fire alarm went off in the early hours of Monday, December 29.
On Tuesday, dozens of angry customers gathered in front of the bank, yelling “Let me in!”
“I couldn’t sleep last night. There was no information coming in,” one man told the Welt broadcaster as he waited outside the branch, adding that he had used the safe for 25 years and that it contained savings for his retirement.
Another man said he used the safe to store cash and jewelry for his family.
A spokesperson for Sparkasse Bank in Gelsenkirchen did not respond to a request for comment.
Police said witnesses reported seeing several men carrying large items in the stairwell of an adjacent parking lot Saturday night.
There were also reports of a black Audi RS 6 leaving the garage early Monday morning with masked men inside. Police said the car’s license plate belonged to a stolen car in Hannover, more than 200 kilometers northeast of Gelsenkirchen.
