Thieves drill into German bank vault and steal property worth tens of millions

A fire alarm summoned police officers and firefighters to the bank branch in Gelsenkirchen shortly before 4am on Monday (Christoph Reichwein/dpa via AP)

Thieves stole tens of millions of euros worth of property from safety deposit boxes inside a German bank vault they drilled into, police said.

Some 2,700 bank customers were affected by the theft in Gelsenkirchen on Monday during the holiday lull, police and the Sparkasse bank said.