Bank break-in: After a million-dollar coup – Sparkasse Gelsenkirchen defends safety expertise | EUROtoday

After the spectacular financial institution break-in, Gelsenkirchen financial savings financial institution boss Michael Klotz rejects criticism of the safety expertise within the department. “The branch with the locker room was secured according to the recognized state of the art,” Klotz mentioned in an announcement. “The burglars nevertheless managed to overcome several independent security measures. How this was possible is currently the subject of police investigations.”

Klotz added in an interview with “WAZ” that he was not allowed to touch upon particular person safety measures. Just this a lot: “We have had the alarm and fire detection technology replaced in the last two years.” The expertise is continually being improved. “It has always been a race between security technology and criminals,” he mentioned.

In his personal phrases, the CEO sees the way forward for Sparkasse Gelsenkirchen under no circumstances threatened by the harm attributable to the break-in. “The contracts provide for insurance of up to 10,300 euros per locker. Nobody has to worry that the savings bank could falter,” he informed the “WAZ”.

However, sufferer legal professionals have introduced that they wish to sue the financial institution for a lot larger damages per secure deposit field within the occasion of safety failures.

At the top of December, beforehand unknown perpetrators gained entry to the financial institution through a parking storage and drilled a big gap in a wall to get into the vault. Almost all 3,250 buyer lockers on the Sparkasse department within the Buer district have been damaged into.

The harm continues to be being decided. An preliminary police estimate was within the mid double-digit million vary, however investigators now consider that harm within the three-digit million vary is sensible.

Klotz informed “WAZ” that they’re presently busy seven days per week wanting by the gadgets left behind by the perpetrators and assigning them to the shoppers. “This is a huge mountain that is now being examined and documented meticulously and with the greatest care together with the police and notary support so that customers can get their property back as quickly as possible.” But that can take a very long time.

In his assertion, Klotz emphasised that, along with the shoppers, the financial savings financial institution itself had additionally been broken by the break-in. The financial institution was a “victim of the crime,” he emphasised. “The break-in caused significant damage to Sparkasse Gelsenkirchen and our customers.”