Victims of a German bank heist likened by police to Ocean’s Eleven have filed the first lawsuits against Sparkasse Gelsenkirchen over alleged security failures after thieves drilled into the bank’s vault during the Christmas holidays and looted thousands of safe deposit boxes.
Lawyer Daniel Kuhlmann said three civil cases were lodged on Wednesday at a court in Essen, holding the bank liable for damages following the December burglary, which saw criminals make off with cash, gold and jewellery potentially worth tens of millions of euros.
“The first lawsuits were filed on Wednesday,” Kuhlmann said, calling the bank’s security inadequate. The court in Essen did not respond to a request for comment.
Sparkasse Gelsenkirchen said it was a victim of the crime and that its premises were “secured in accordance with recognised state-of-the-art technology”.
The heist that shocked Germany
The robbery took place at a Sparkasse branch in the western city of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, during Christmas. Police said the thieves accessed the building through an adjacent parking garage and used a large industrial drill to bore through a thick concrete wall into an underground vault.
Once inside, the burglars forced open more than 3,000 safe deposit boxes containing cash, gold and jewellery. A police spokesperson likened the operation to the Hollywood heist film Ocean’s Eleven, calling it “very professionally executed”.
“A great deal of prior knowledge and/or a great deal of criminal energy must have been involved to plan and carry this out,” the spokesperson told AFP.
Investigators were alerted only after a fire alarm went off. CCTV footage later showed masked suspects leaving the parking garage in a black Audi RS 6 with stolen licence plates.
No arrests have been made and the perpetrators remain at large.
Losses estimated up to €90 million
Police spokesperson Thomas Nowaczyk said investigators estimate the total value of the stolen items at between 10 million and 90 million euros ($11.8m–$105.7m), though some victims and lawyers believe the true losses could be higher.
The bank said “more than 95 percent of the 3,250 customer safe deposit boxes were broken into by unknown perpetrators”. While the average insured value per box was about €10,300, many customers have reported losses far exceeding that amount.
German news agency dpa reported the burglary could rank among the biggest thefts in the country’s history.
Who is suing, and why
Among the lawsuits filed on Wednesday is a case brought by a retired person who had stored nearly €400,000 in cash from the sale of an apartment, according to Kuhlmann.
Another plaintiff is the CEO of a medium-sized company who kept cash, jewellery and a Rolex watch valued at around €120,000. A third claimant lost gold worth about €50,000.
The plaintiffs argued the bank failed to provide adequate protection for customers’ valuables, despite charging annual fees for the use of safe deposit boxes.
Anger and anguish among customers
In the days after the heist, angry customers gathered outside the branch demanding answers. Police temporarily secured the area after threats were made against bank employees.
“I couldn't sleep last night. We're getting no information,” one man told the Welt broadcaster, according to Reuters, as he waited outside the branch, adding that the box contained his savings for old age.
Other victims described devastation and disbelief. “I felt as numb as if I’d had an injection,” said Faqir Malyar, a 67-year-old carpet trader, after learning his deposit box had been emptied.
Chief investigator André Dobersch warned against trivialising the crime. “We’re not talking about safe-crackers in a comic,” he said, “but about criminals who’ve caused sleepless nights … and destroyed livelihoods.”
Bank response and security questions
Sparkasse Gelsenkirchen has said it is contacting affected customers, has set up a hotline and is working with insurers on compensation claims.
“We are shocked,” said bank spokesperson Frank Krallmann. “We are standing by our customers and hope that the perpetrators will be caught.”
In a statement, the bank defended its security systems, saying: “We can only say that our security technology meets recognised state-of-the-art standards. We ensure this through our collaboration with specialist companies.”
Lawyers and security experts have raised questions about how such an operation could take place undetected. Klaus Nachtigall, a former senior police official, said: “It’s upsetting to know that these acts are preventable. If security systems are working, the alarm should sound at the first sign of a piece of debris falling out of the wall.”
Investigation continues
More than 200 officers have been assigned to the probe, dubbed “Operation Drill”. Police believe the thieves carried out the burglary over several hours and exploited the holiday lull to avoid detection.
As investigators hunt for the suspects, the newly filed lawsuits mark the beginning of what could be a long legal battle over responsibility for one of Germany’s most audacious, Ocean’s Eleven-style bank heists.