In an act of astonishing criminal audacity mixed with bizarre courtesy, a gang behind a £30 million bank robbery in Germany took the time to pay for their parking before making their escape.
The Heist: A Multi-Million Pound Christmas Raid
The target was the Sparkasse bank in Buer, a suburb of Gelsenkirchen. During the Christmas holidays or the preceding weekend, a small team of two or three masked individuals executed one of the largest heists in German history.
The thieves gained entry through the bank's car park, forcing open several doors before confronting the vault's formidable defences. Using professional-grade equipment, they drilled through an 18-inch (42cm) thick reinforced concrete wall to access the heart of the secure area.
Once inside, the gang spent several hours systematically emptying the contents of roughly 3,300 safety deposit boxes. These boxes were rented to approximately 2,700 customers, containing a hoard of gold, cash, jewellery, and personal belongings. Experts estimate the meticulous operation would have taken between two and four hours to complete.
The Bizarre Act of Criminal Courtesy
Remarkable footage, later shared by victims in a WhatsApp group, captured a moment of strange normality amidst the high-stakes crime. The video shows a masked man, dressed in a grey jumper and balaclava, casually feeding coins into a parking meter.
He drops the coins in one by one with what appears to be comical patience. In a later clip, he is seen returning to the machine to insert more money, ensuring the correct fee was paid for their vehicle's stay.
Another video clip shows a different member of the group manually lifting a parking barrier to allow a white Mercedes van, presumably laden with loot, to exit. He then repeats the action to let a black car into the parking complex.
The robbery went completely undetected for days. Police were only alerted on the Monday morning when a fire alarm was triggered inside the otherwise silent bank. Upon arrival, emergency services discovered the massive hole drilled into the vault.
The Aftermath and Investigation
Authorities have advised all Sparkasse customers who used the safety deposit boxes to assume their belongings have been stolen. The financial and emotional impact is vast, affecting thousands of people.
According to German newspaper Bild, each lock box is insured for up to €10,300. This means the total insurance claim from this single raid could reach an astonishing €33,990,000, equivalent to roughly £30,000,000.
Witnesses reported seeing men carrying large bags in the stairwell of a connecting car park on Saturday night. They were seen boarding a black Audi RS6 fitted with a stolen licence plate from Hanover.
The investigation continues as German police hunt for the meticulously polite but devastatingly effective gang who managed to vanish with a fortune, leaving behind nothing but a damaged vault, empty boxes, and a paid parking ticket.
