Criminals took advantage of the quiet Christmas period to drill into the vault of a retail bank in Germany, stealing at least 10 million euros ($11 million) in cash and valuables from customers’ safe deposit boxes, police said Tuesday.
The perpetrators drilled through a thick concrete wall at a branch of Sparkasse bank in the western city of Gelsenkirchen and then broke into several thousand safe deposit boxes and stole a sum estimated in the double-digit millions of euros, the police said in a statement.
Most shops and banks close in Germany over the Christmas period, starting from the evening of Dec. 24, and police only discovered the hole after a fire alarm went off in the early hours of Monday, Dec. 29.
A hole gapes in a wall after thieves drilled into the vault of a Sparkasse savings bank in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Dec. 29, 2025, in this image released Dec. 30, 2025, by the police. (Police Gelsenkirchen/Handout via Reuters)
Dozens of angry customers gathered in front of the bank on Tuesday loudly chanting, "Let us in!"
