‘I felt numb’: German bank heist victims devastated after thieves ransack 3,000 deposit boxes

Gelsenkirchen savings bank was raided over Christmas by criminals who used huge drill to access vault

Faqir Malyar, a carpet trader from the western German city of Gelsenkirchen, was on his way to visit one of his customers during the Christmas holidays when he heard news on the radio of an astonishing bank heist. Thieves had drilled a hole in the wall of the vault of a local Sparkasse - savings bank - and made off with the contents of almost 3,250 deposit boxes.

The robbery, likened by a police spokesperson to the Hollywood film Ocean's Eleven, made international headlines: it is estimated that the thieves' haul could have been worth as much as 300m (260m), a sum that would make it the one of the biggest bank heists in a country wearily familiar with them.