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Society
Photo: DPA

Thieves dig 30-metre tunnel to rob bank

Published: 14 Jan 13 15:12 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20130114-47321.html

Berlin fire fighters called on Monday to an underground garage put out a blaze only to find a 30-metre-long tunnel leading to the vaults of a nearby bank - which had been emptied.

The fire, which police believe was begun by the thieves in an attempt to erase any evidence and cause a distraction while they robbed the bank, broke out at around 6:15 am theTagesspiegel regional paper reported.

The thieves had smashed through reinforced concrete to dig their tunnel, meaning they must have had access to heavy duty equipment.

Police were still examining the scene in the Steglitz area of the capital on Monday afternoon and are yet to have found any clues pointing to suspects, despite thorough questioning of people living in the area.

Exactly how much money was stolen from the Volksbank branch has not been revealed and police said they had no idea where the ground excavated from the tunnel had ended up.

A similar incident took place in the southern part of Berlin in 1995, when an 11-strong gang tunnelled into a bank in Zehlendorf and took 16 hostages as well as several million euros.

The Local/jcw

What do you think? Leave your comment below.


Your comments about this article:

15:55 January 14, 2013 by raandy
Lets hope some one tells the "Key Stone Cops" who did it or they left their wallet behind or this case will most likely end up with all the other unsolved.
17:59 January 14, 2013 by Englishted
I can tell them where the ground excavated from the tunnel had ended up.

Simple they dug another hole and hid it in there.
20:34 January 14, 2013 by McM
There are a couple of bottomless pits on respective building sites in Hamburg and Berlin they could hide it in without anyone bothering to check.
00:01 January 15, 2013 by wood artist
I'd bet the answer to the "where's the dirt" question could be solved by folks who spent WWII in POW camps. They were famous for getting rid of excess soil. Not too many of them around these days, but they had all kinds of ways...and the German guards seldom caught them doing it.

wa
07:29 January 15, 2013 by wethepeople2012
With the Germans finding more and more ways tax, (steal), from the public...

I'm surprised there are not more people trying to steal back their money!
14:36 January 15, 2013 by SchwabHallRocks
The coppers have it wrong...

The thieves actually dug their way out of the vault into the parking garage, not the other way around.

As far as the dirt, it got mixed into sausage in small increments; usually blut wurst since it needs a little thickener.

This happens all the time.

(And don't listen to Wood Artist and English Ted... They are clueless!)
15:24 January 15, 2013 by Craptastic
Woody Allen is laughing with glee. If he's lucky, the German police won't charge him as an accessory.
19:01 January 15, 2013 by DonH
Ah yes...leave it to the Germans to over-engineer a project. :-)
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