Germany’s most spectacular bank heist in years has left everyone shocked.
Soon after a Christmas at a random quiet weekend on Monday, December 29, 2025, a group of thieves broke into a High Street bank in the western town of Gelsenkirchen, by boring through a wall with an industrial drill.
Inside the vault, the thieves looted almost 3,250 safe deposit boxes, taking cash, gold and jewellery.
The incident had shaken trust among institutions and security arrangements at large.
German magazine Der Spiegel said the heist had become a political issue and a symbol of something greater than the crime itself: “The feeling that promises of security are hollow, that institutions are failing, that ultimately no-one is being held accountable.”
The heist speculated many questions from affected bank customers as well as Herbert Reul, interior minister in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia that,
Why did no-one notice what was going on? Was it an insider job?
Why did no-one hear the drill and how did the thieves know exactly where the vault was?
Were the bank’s security systems too weak?
Police in Gelsenkirchen are still appealing for witnesses to come forward and even over a month later, police have yet to make an arrest.
Investigators believe the thieves probably broke into the Sparkasse savings bank in Nienhofstrasse through the next-door multi-storey car park in the town’s Buer district.
New details revealed:
The thieves may have tampered with an escape door between the car park and the bank.
Well, under normal circumstances the door could not be opened from the outside, but the gang managed to make sure it no longer closed properly, allowing them “unhindered access from the car park to the Sparkasse building.”
Police believe they overcame several security systems and made their way into an archive room next to the vault, in the bank’s basement.
They set up the drill and bored a hole 40cm (15.7in) wide in the wall leading to the strongroom, where the safe deposit boxes were kept.
Herbert Reul revealed, the fire alarm had come from the vault, but firefighters could not get in because it was locked with a roll shutter.
Reul said they saw “no smoke, no smell of fire, or damage”, so they “concluded it was a false alarm”, which he said was not unusual.
He told a state parliament committee the police did not have the right to search the bank at the time, as it was a matter for the fire brigade. They would have needed a warrant.
Reul said that computer systems in the bank show that the first box was broken into at 10:45 on 27 December and the last at 14:44. It is not clear whether they managed to open most of the boxes in four hours or if the technology stopped recording data.
Witnesses later told police they saw several men in the stairwell of the car park carrying big bags during the night into 28 December.
Authorities say they do not know exactly how much was taken, but German media estimate the thieves must have got away with up to €100 million (£87m)
Police subsequently released photos and video footage from the car park’s security cameras, which showed men with their faces covered, and two cars, a black Audi RS 6 and a white Mercedes Citan. Both had fake licence plates.
The bank has said it was itself a victim of the crime and that its premises were “secured in accordance with recognised state-of-the-art technology”.
Police Chief Tim Frommeyer said they were dealing with “one of the biggest criminal cases in the history of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia”.
“My department and all of its employees are aware of the magnitude of this case. The financial damage, uncertainty, and frustration run deep!”
Shortly after the theft was discovered, Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party held a rally outside the bank, prompting some to accuse the party of trying to stir up trouble.
