Thieves break into German bank, steal tens of millions of cash, valuables – National

Thieves stole tens of millions of euros worth of goods and cash from a German bank’s safe deposit boxes they broke open on Monday, police said.

An estimated 2,700 bank customers were affected by the theft in Gelsenkirchen, the police and the Sparkasse bank said.

Thomas Nowaczyk, a police spokesman, said investigators believe the theft was worth between 10 and 90 million euros ($16 to 145 million).

In a press release on Facebook, the Gelsenkirchen Police Department said the burglary occurred on Monday morning. Police say that during the holiday season, thieves used a large drill to make a hole in the safe room and rummage through the valuables inside.

“Police were alerted to the burglary of the fire alarm that was set off on Monday morning at 3:58 AM at the Fire Department,” said a press release. “After that, the police and fire department started searching the building and saw a hole in the basement and a break-in.”

According to the initial investigation, the police said that the criminals were able to enter the building of the savings fund through the parking garage and ran away with the loot.

Witnesses told investigators they saw several men carrying large bags in a nearby parking garage overnight Friday into Saturday.

Detectives have reviewed the first video from the parking garage, which shows a black Audi RS 6 leaving the garage early Monday morning.

“The masked criminals are also inside the car, one of them works at the exit block. The license plate of the car was previously stolen in Hanover,” said the police. “It is now confirmed that the perpetrators have broken into several thousand deposit boxes in the affected area. The initial negative estimates put the damage in the tens of millions.”

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German news agency dpa reported that the theft may be one of the biggest robberies in Germany.

The bank remains closed on Tuesday, when around 200 people came to get inside, reports dpa. Police are asking those who believe they are victims of theft to contact the bank first.

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Thieves broke into a jewelry store, stealing nearly $20M worth of merchandise

This is not the first time this year that thieves have broken into the place to get money and jewelry.

In April, a group of thieves stole nearly $20 million in jewelry and cash after breaking into a jewelry store in downtown Los Angeles.

The owners of Love Jewels said that they have withdrawn millions of rands following the burglary after the thieves stole watches, paints, gold chains and more.

Investigators said they were reviewing security camera footage showing the suspects entering the store and exiting a large hole they dug in a neighborhood, Los Angeles Police Department Officer David Cuellar said at the time.

“They penetrated several levels of concrete in the target area,” Cuellar said.

The owner of the store suspects that the thieves have spent weeks trying to enter his store and he suspects that they are using an abandoned theater next to where he lives to create it.

The German heist comes two months after thieves broke into the Louvre and took more than $100 million worth of items.

The director of the world’s most visited museum then admitted a “major failure” in security. Thieves forced their way into the Louvre using a cherry picker to access one of the building’s windows. They used sawmills to cut jewelry display cases and motorcycles to escape.

The loot still hasn’t been recovered. It includes the diamond-and-emerald necklace Napoleon gave to Empress Marie-Louise, jewels worn by 19th-century Queen Marie-Amélie and Hortense and Empress Eugénie’s pearl-and-diamond tiara.

– With files from the Associated Press

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