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Investigators Detail Gelsenkirchen Sparkasse Heist, Citing Manipulated Escape Door and Four-Hour Window

Investigators now face a months-long task processing 10,000 hours of footage alongside vast physical evidence to identify the culprits.

Overview

  • Police say the gang accessed the branch from a parking garage via a tampered escape door, then drilled a roughly 40‑centimeter hole into the vault wall.
  • Digital records show the first box was opened at 10:45 and the last at 14:44 on 27 December, with nearly all of the 3,256 safe‑deposit boxes forced.
  • About 230 personnel in the BAO “Bohrer” unit are examining roughly 8 terabytes of data while cataloguing several hundred thousand items left in the vault.
  • The vault was contaminated with chemicals that likely aimed to destroy traces, CCTV and alarm behavior are under review, and possible insider assistance remains a line of inquiry.
  • Lawyers are organizing mass claims against the bank as loss estimates range from mid double‑digit millions to a conceivable three‑digit million total, though contents are typically insured only up to about €10,300 per box.