German police investigate Gelsenkirchen bank vault heist
German police are investigating a major heist at a Sparkasse savings bank vault in Gelsenkirchen, western Germany, where robbers drilled through a wall and looted thousands of safe deposit boxes. The theft, discovered on December 29, 2025, after a fire alarm triggered around 4 a.m., involved cash, gold, and jewelry with estimated losses ranging from 10 to 90 million euros.
Robbers accessed the underground vault from a neighboring parking garage using a large drill to create a hole in the concrete wall. They broke into over 3,000 of the branch’s 3,250 safe deposit boxes, affecting around 2,700 customers, many storing valuables like gold beyond insured limits of about 10,000 euros per box. Surveillance footage captured masked suspects fleeing in a black Audi RS 6 with a stolen license plate from Hanover.
Police describe the operation as highly professional, akin to the film Ocean’s Eleven, with perpetrators showing prior knowledge of the site. No arrests have been made as of December 31, 2025, and the manhunt continues amid customer protests outside the closed bank. Authorities urge victims to contact the bank directly for damage assessments rather than filing individual reports.
