{"id":488781,"date":"2026-01-03T06:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T06:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/488781\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T06:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T06:01:11","slug":"third-bank-robbery-reported-in-nrw-in-days-dw-01-02-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/488781\/","title":{"rendered":"Third bank robbery reported in NRW in days \u2013 DW \u2013 01\/02\/2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Safe-deposit boxes have been broken into again at a bank branch in the western <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/germany\/t-17871182\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">German<\/a> state of\u00a0<a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/north-rhine-westphalia\/t-18943637\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">North Rhine-Westphalia<\/a>, marking the third such case in recent days.<\/p>\n<p>After an incident\u00a0in Bonn and a\u00a0<a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/germany-gelsenkirchen-bank-heist-30-million\/a-75344406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">major vault break-in in Gelsenkirchen<\/a>, police have now confirmed a third suspected bank robbery in Halle, near Bielefeld.<\/p>\n<p>The Halle incident happened around midday on Tuesday during regular business hours,\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener follow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.presseportal.de\/blaulicht\/pm\/23127\/6189112\" title=\"External link \u2014 police confirmed\u00a0on Friday\">police confirmed\u00a0on Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>What do we know about the third NRW bank robbery?<\/p>\n<p>The perpetrators managed to break into four safe-deposit boxes at a local Sparkasse branch and completely emptied them.<\/p>\n<p>According to police reports, the thieves were able to access the safe-deposit box area without force. It was not immediately clear if the room had been open or how they managed to get in.<\/p>\n<p>Police have not yet stated how much was taken, but those affected have been informed.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators are now hoping there may be witnesses who saw what happened and are calling for anyone who was around the bank at the time to get in touch.<\/p>\n<p><img data-format=\"MASTER_LANDSCAPE\" data-id=\"75343898\" data-url=\"https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/75343898_${formatId}.jpg\" data-aspect-ratio=\"16\/9\" alt=\"Germany, Gelsenkirchen, 2025 | Bank robbery using a large drill in the vault of a savings bank\" style=\"padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; max-height: 0;\"\/>Burglars stole about \u20ac30 million from a bank in the western city of Gelsenkirchen on TuesdayImage: Polizei Gelsenkirchen\/dpa\/picture alliance<\/p>\n<p>Spate of robberies hits western Germany<\/p>\n<p>The bank robbery in Halle is the third such incident in North Rhine-Westphalia in recent days.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators in Bonn are focusing on a former employee after gold was stolen from two safe-deposit boxes at a Sparkasse branch in the city.<\/p>\n<p>Police learned of the break-in on Dec. 17 and said gold worth a high six-figure sum was taken. A 22-year-old ex-staff member is under suspicion.<\/p>\n<p>In Gelsenkirchen, thieves broke into almost all 3,250 customer safe-deposit boxes at a Sparkasse branch on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators said they are working through a &#8220;flood&#8221;\u00a0of tips. Despite the volume of information, police said there is still no clear lead.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re getting tips from all directions,&#8221;\u00a0a police spokesman said, noting that experts and investigators from other states have also contacted authorities.<\/p>\n<p>Edited by: Karl Sexton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Safe-deposit boxes have been broken into again at a bank branch in the western German state of\u00a0North Rhine-Westphalia,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":488782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[50,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-488781","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115829649467423536","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}