Thieves drill into bank vault to steal valuables worth tens of millions of euros

Thieves have drilled into a German savings bank vault to steal millions of pounds worth of valuables from safety deposit boxes.

Police said the gang took advantage of the Christmas holidays to carry out the heist in the western city of Gelsenkirchen and got into the building through a next door parking garage. Witnesses saw several men carrying large bags in the stairwell of the garage overnight on Saturday, while CCTV footage - which has not been released - captured a black Audi RS 6 leaving early on Monday morning.

Masked suspects, including one who operated the exit barrier, were seen inside the vehicle, which had been stolen in Hanover, around 150 miles away, according to police. A picture taken inside the ransacked bank vault shows a circular hole drilled through a thick wall with items strewn across the floor.

Police said the thieves broke into thousands of safe deposit boxes with initial estimates placing the value of the raid at tens of millions of euros. A fire alarm was triggered at the bank on Saturday and police and firefighters arrived at around 6.15am but found no evidence of damage, with the break-in not discovered until Monday morning.

Potential victims of the raid gathered outside the Sparkasse bank on Tuesday morning, but the doors remained locked and police told them to go home, according to local media reports. Read more from Sky News:Police looking for two men after pedestrian killed in collisionAnthony Joshua in 'stable' condition after crash A statement on the bank's website said the branch would remain closed, with details for a hotline for affected customers.

"Over the Christmas holidays, the customer safe deposit box area of the Buer branch was broken into," the bank said. "More than 95% of the customer safe deposit boxes were forced open by as-yet-unknown perpetrators.

"Due to the extensive damage, customers cannot access this area until further notice.".