After the gold theft from the safe deposit boxes of the Sparkasse bank in Bonn and the high-profile robbery of the Sparkasse branch in Gelsenkirchen, a third break-in was reported in the city of Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia, DW writes.
In the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located in western Germany, a third bank robbery in recent days was reported on Friday, January 2. Local police announced that four safe deposit boxes were broken into at a bank branch on the train station street in the city of Halle during working hours on December 30.
The extent of the damage has not yet been determined. It is also unclear how the criminals gained access to the vault. Meanwhile, the police have contacted the owners of the broken into boxes. Law enforcement officials have asked anyone who may have witnessed the incident to come forward.
Earlier in North Rhine-Westphalia, Two Branches of Sparkasse Bank Were Robbed
The first robbery occurred in Bonn on December 17, but it became known only at the end of the month. At the Sparkasse bank branch on the central Friedensplatz square, two safes were opened, and valuables worth a large sum, mostly gold, were stolen. The police reported that a 22-year-old former bank employee is suspected of the crime. Searches were conducted at his residence, and he was taken to the station but was later released as no grounds for his detention were found, according to WDR.
On the morning of December 29, the security service of the Sparkasse branch in Gelsenkirchen discovered that about 3,200 safe deposit boxes containing money, gold, and other valuables had been broken into. The criminals gained access to the vault from an adjacent parking lot by breaking through a wall. According to some reports, the damage could exceed 100 million euros. This robbery is considered one of the largest in the history of Germany. On January 1, police acknowledged that they still have no serious leads to track down the robbers.
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