GELSENKIRCHEN, GERMANY—In what is being described as one of the most sophisticated and daring bank robberies in modern German history, a professional gang of thieves used the cover of the Christmas holiday to drill into a high-security vault and vanish with an estimated €30 million ($35 million) in cash, gold, and jewelry.
The heist, targeting a branch of the Sparkasse savings bank in the western city of Gelsenkirchen, has left investigators baffled and thousands of customers in a state of fury and despair. By the time a fire alarm finally alerted authorities at 3:58 AM on Monday morning, the vault—containing more than 3,200 safe deposit boxes—had been systematically ransacked.
A Weekend in the Dark: The Anatomy of a Heist
Police believe the perpetrators gained access to the bank’s basement through an adjacent underground parking garage sometime late Friday or early Saturday. Using a “highly specialized” industrial drill, the crew cut through a thick concrete wall directly into the archive room and subsequently the vault itself.
- The Silent Siege: Investigators suspect the gang spent nearly the entire holiday weekend inside the building. “This was not a smash-and-grab,” a police spokesperson said. “This required immense technical knowledge and criminal energy. They had days to work through the boxes undisturbed.”
- The Witness Reports: Witnesses reported seeing several men carrying heavy bags in the parking garage’s stairwell on Saturday night.
- The Getaway: Security footage from the garage captured a black Audi RS 6—a high-performance vehicle—speeding away early Monday morning. The car was fitted with license plates that had been stolen weeks earlier in Hanover.
‘We Want In’: Fury on the Streets
As news of the breach broke on Tuesday, the Buer district of Gelsenkirchen descended into chaos. Hundreds of distraught bank customers gathered outside the shuttered branch, some attempting to storm the lobby as security guards and police in riot gear struggled to maintain a cordon.
“I had my life savings in that box. My mother’s jewelry, everything. How can a bank be this vulnerable over a long weekend?” — Anatol K., local resident and affected customer
The bank remained closed Tuesday due to security concerns and threats made against staff. While each box carries a standard insurance value of roughly €10,000, many victims claim their losses far exceed that amount, particularly those who stored untraceable gold and family heirlooms.
The ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ Comparison
The Gelsenkirchen robbery has already drawn comparisons to Hollywood heists and previous high-profile German crimes, such as the 2013 Berlin tunnel robbery. However, the scale of this operation is unprecedented:
- The Scope: Over 2,500 individuals have been identified as victims.
- The Professionalism: Police noted that the thieves appeared to have a detailed map of the bank’s internal security sensors, managing to bypass or disable most of them until the fire alarm (possibly triggered by the heat of the drill or dust) finally went off Monday morning.
- The ‘Louvre’ Connection: The heist comes just weeks after a similarly brazen robbery at the Louvre in Paris, where thieves stole French crown jewels. Interpol is now investigating whether a pan-European “super-gang” is targeting high-value cultural and financial institutions during the winter lull.
The Search for the ‘Black Audi’
A massive manhunt is currently underway across the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Forensic teams spent Tuesday morning inside the vault, meticulously vacuuming the dust for DNA or tool marks left behind by the specialist drill.
Gelsenkirchen police have issued an urgent appeal for any dashcam footage from the vicinity of the parking garage between December 26 and December 29. For now, the “highly professional” gang remains at large, leaving behind a massive hole in a concrete wall and a community whose trust in the “safety” of safe deposit boxes has been shattered.