According to German police, thieves allegedly stole up to $105 billion from safe-deposit boxes at a German retail bank in Gelsenkirchen over the Christmas holiday.
According to a report from the German news agency dpa, it may be one of the country’s biggest thefts ever.
What transpired, and what was stolen?
According to the police, the thieves broke into a Sparkasse bank branch in Gelsenkirchen, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, at some point during the Christmas holiday when the nearby parking garage was closed.
Gothic architecture and museums are found in the German state. Dusseldorf, the country’s capital, is renowned for its Rheinturm telecommunications tower and its shopping district.
The thieves gained access to an underground vault room by drilling a large drill through a thick concrete wall at the bank. Then, they duped into opening some 3, 000 safe deposit boxes, lobbing them with cash, jewelry, and gold.
According to the AFP news agency, a police spokesperson compared the break-in to Ocean’s Eleven and called it “very professionally executed.”
To plan and carry this out, the spokesperson told the agency, “a great deal of prior knowledge and/or a great deal of criminal energy must have been involved.”
More than 95 percent of the 3,250 customer safe deposit boxes, according to the bank, were allegedly accessed by unidentified thieves.
A fire alarm went off on Monday, but police have not yet confirmed the exact time the robbery occurred. Instead, they claim they were called to the scene.
What is the value of the stolen goods?
According to police spokesman Thomas Nowaczyk, investigators estimate the total value of the stolen items to be anywhere between 10 and 90 million euros ($11,8 million and $105.7 million).
According to the police, each deposit box’s average insured value is more than 10,000 euros ($11,700). However, officers said that several victims claimed their boxes’ contents were significantly more expensive than the money they had been insured for.
What are the robbers’ known to us?
The thieves are still at large, and there are no arrests yet.
A black Audi RS 6 sedan was captured on surveillance video leaving the bank’s parking lot early on Monday morning, with masked people inside.
The car’s license plate was allegedly stolen earlier in Hanover, which is located about 200 kilometers (124 miles) northeast of Gelsenkirchen, where the robbery occurred.
What has the response been from bank customers?
Infuriated customers gathered outside the bank branch on Tuesday to demand answers about the bank’s robbery.
After threats were made to bank employees, the police spokesperson informed AFP that the bank branch remained closed for security reasons.
According to the police spokesperson, “We’re still on site and keeping an eye on things,” adding that “the situation has significantly calmed down.”
What has the bank said in response?
The bank wants to make the robbery public to all of its customers. Additionally, it established a customer support hotline for the affected people.
It added that it is examining the manner in which compensation claims will be handled with insurers.
Frank Krallmann, a bank press spokesman, said, “We are shocked.” We rely on our customers to catch the criminals who abuse them.
What other noteworthy heists have recently occurred?
The Louvre, France, October 2025
In less than seven minutes, a gang of robbers robbed the Louvre Museum in Paris and robbed it of eight pieces of jewelry. Eight items dating back to the Napoleonic era were loaded with motorcycles, and the thieves stole a ninth on their way out.
It was estimated that the jewelry items had been stolen worth $ 102 million.
Eight suspects have been detained in France as of this writing due to the Louvre heist.
Three men, three women, three men, and three people were the first four suspects, who were then formally investigated and charged.
Two men from the Paris region, both 38 and 39, and two women from Paris, both 31 and 40, are the four suspects who have been taken into custody. They face possible complicity allegations. The suspects’ names have not been made public.
Museum of Natural History, France, September 2025
A 24-year-old Chinese woman was detained in Barcelona on suspicion of stealing six gold nuggets from Paris’ National Museum of Natural History on September 30. The gold nuggets had a $1.76 million ($1.75 million) market value of about 1.5 million euros ($1.7 million).
It is unclear how or why the woman was detained while attempting to dispose of melted gold. In a cyberattack, the museum’s alarms and security system were disabled, but it’s not clear whether the thieves were the ones who also carried out the cyberattack or whether the theft was opportunistic.
Los Angeles cash store, United States, in March 2024
Over the Easter holiday, thieves stole at least $30 million in cash from a GardaWorld facility in Los Angeles.
A global security provider, GardaWorld offers services like facilities management, property management, and cash handling.
Source: Aljazeera
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