A gang pulled off a Hatton Garden-style bank job by drilling into a vault.
Police were alerted to the break-in by a fire alarm at 3:58am yesterday (29 Dec).
Officers and firefighters immediately searched the Sparkasse branch and discovered a huge hole in the wall of an office.
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The hole led directly into the basement vault room, where the safe deposit boxes were stored.
The branch in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, had been closed since Christmas Eve, and police believe the suspects exploited this, gaining access via a multi-storey car park.
Once inside, they grabbed everything they could from the safe deposit boxes and fled the same way with their loot.
Experts believe the burglars – likely two or three in number – had previous experience with core drilling.
It would have taken them two to four hours to drill two overlapping holes through the 40-45cm-thick reinforced concrete wall, probably using a 20kg (44lb) core drill with a synthetic-diamond-coated crown.
They may also have brought jerry cans, a hose, and a pump to cool the machinery, as reported by Need To Know.
Authorities are now appealing to the public for information.
A Gelsenkirchen Police spokesperson said: “The extent of the damage is currently under investigation, with extensive enquiries under way.
“These include securing forensic evidence and looking for possible witnesses who may have heard suspicious noises or observed anything unusual in recent days.”
The case echoes the Hatton Garden heist in April 2015, one of the UK’s most audacious burglaries.
A group of elderly career criminals drilled through a 50cm-thick vault wall at a London jewellery safe deposit centre over the Easter weekend, bypassing alarms to steal millions in cash, jewellery, and valuables.
Despite meticulous planning, most of the gang were eventually caught, tried, and imprisoned, though a significant portion of the loot was never recovered.
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