A police spokesperson told the AFP news agency that the break-in was “very professionally executed” and compared it to the Hollywood heist movie Ocean’s Eleven..
More than 3,000 safe deposit boxes holding cash, jewelry, and gold were broken into by thieves during the heist at Sparkasse Savings Bank in Gelsenkirchen.
The crime was discovered, according to Gelsenkirchen Police, after a fire alarm went off early on Monday morning.
As of right now, the offenders are still at large and no arrests have been made.
Police said the thieves had used the “quiet Christmas days” to rob the building on Nienhofstrasse in the Buer district.
Initial investigations suggest they gained access to the bank, and escaped, via an adjacent parking garage.
Witnesses have reported seeing several men carrying large bags in the staircase of the garage overnight on Saturday into Sunday.
Police said video footage shows a black Audi RS 6 leaving the garage, on De-La-Chevallerie-Strasse, early on Monday morning.
The hole into the underground vault room was discovered when a fire alarm went off in the early hours of Monday, and police and the fire brigade searched the building.
Affected bank customers have been asked to contact Sparkasse bank, which has set up a hotline. Police secured the entrance of the branch on Tuesday after a large number of customers gathered outside demanding information.
“I couldn’t sleep last night. We’re getting no information,” one man told the Welt broadcaster, according to Reuters, as he waited outside the branch, adding that it contained his savings for old age.
