By SABRINA PENTY, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER and AFP

Published: 16:02 GMT, 30 December 2025 | Updated: 16:02 GMT, 30 December 2025

Robbers used a large drill to break into a German savings bank's vault room and steal cash, gold and jewellry worth some £26million.

The heist in the western city of Gelsenkirchen saw the thieves break into more than 3,000 safe deposit boxes, according to police. 

While the criminals remained at large, hundreds of distressed bank customers massed outside the branch on Tuesday demanding information, but were kept at bay by police.

Cops said the robbers drilled their way into the underground vault room of the Sparkasse savings bank from a parking garage.

Investigators suspect the gang spent much of the weekend inside, breaking open the deposit boxes.

The break-in came to light after a fire alarm was triggered in the early hours of Monday and emergency services discovered the hole.

Witnesses reported seeing several men carrying large bags in the stairwell of the parking garage during the night from Saturday to Sunday.

Footage from security cameras has also shown a black Audi RS 6 leaving the parking garage early Monday morning, with masked persons inside.

This handout photo taken on December 29, 2025 in Gelsenkirchen, western Germany, and handed out by the Police Gelsenkirchen shows a giant hole in a wall of the bank vault of a Sparkasse bank branch after the unknown perpetrator(s) broke in during the Christmas holidays 

Police officers stand in front of the savings bank branch in the Buer district in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025 following a break-in into the bank's vault

The car's license plate had been stolen earlie Hanover, police said.

A police spokesman told AFP that the break-in was 'indeed very professionally executed', likening it to the heist movie 'Ocen'.

'A great deal of prior knowledge and/or a great deal of criminal energy must have been involved to plan and carry this out,' he said.

Police said the more than 3,000 boxes had an average insurance value of 10,000 euros, and therefore estimated the damage at some 30 million euros.

Several victims had told police officers that their losses far exceeded the insured value of their safe deposit boxes.

The police spokesman said that 'disgruntled customers' were outside the bank branch which didn't open for security reasons, after threats had been made against the employees.

'We're still on site, keeping an eye on things,' he said, adding that 'the situation has calmed down considerably'.