Overview
- North Rhine-Westphalia’s BAO “Bohrer” now counts about 230 investigators who are processing roughly 10,000 hours of video, eight terabytes of data, and an estimated 500,000 items from the vault area.
- Investigators say the perpetrators gained access from a parking garage via a manipulated escape door and a non‑alarmed internal access point, then core‑drilled a roughly 40‑centimeter hole through the concrete wall into the vault.
- Police report the first digital record of a box opening at 10:45 and the last at 14:44 on 27 December, with almost all of the 3,256 safe‑deposit boxes forced and contents strewn across the floor.
- Only a fire alarm activated during the crime while the burglary system stayed silent, and authorities are examining possible system failures as well as potential insider assistance without naming a suspect.
- Damages remain under assessment with estimates ranging from mid‑double‑digit millions to possibly in the triple‑digit millions, and lawyers for victims are preparing claims against the Sparkasse as months of forensic cataloguing continue.