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Gelsenkirchen Bank Heist: Sparkasse Reopens Foyer as Police Detail Sophisticated Break-In

Investigators describe a manipulated fire door entry completed in under four hours.

Overview

  • Self-service machines at the Buer branch are accessible daily from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., while the main office and safe-deposit area remain sealed for evidence work.
  • Police say the crew entered from an adjacent parking structure via a tampered emergency door and worked between 10:45 and 14:44 on December 27 without triggering an intrusion alarm.
  • Reports indicate motion sensors in the stairwell were covered and the vault area was contaminated with chemicals, complicating forensic work.
  • About 230 officers in BAO “Bohrer” are cataloguing hundreds of thousands of items, a process expected to take months, after roughly 3,100 boxes were emptied.
  • More than 100 affected customers have engaged lawyers for damages claims, with disputes over a reported €10,300 compensation cap, as a separate ATM blast in Witten is probed with suspects still at large.