A huge reward has been offered to help find four suspects known as the ‘coat gang’ after they hid all day in the upstairs offices of a bank before escaping with loot worth more than £16m
A gang of crooks hid inside a bank for a whole day before looting more than 300 deposit boxes and escaping the next morning with loot worth more than £16m. The thieves even brought their own portable loo to avoid leaving incriminating DNA in the bank’s toilets.
A reward of more than £250,000 has now been offered for information leading to the capture of the infamous ‘coat gang‘ – so called because they were pictured entering the bank wearing long coats, disguising their identities with face masks and caps.
The movie-style Christmas heist took place last year – and cops are baffled at how the gang have remained undetected for so long. But a private investigator hired to help find find the thieves believes one of the members could have been a bank insider.
After hiding in upstairs offices, they walked out of the Deutsche Bank branch the next morning with more than 300kg of gold and jewellery, as well as vast amounts of cash, with the total haul having been confirmed at £16.7m (€19m), reports Need To Know.
The four suspects had entered the branch in Lübeck in northern Germany at around midday on December 20, and didn’t leave until 17 hours later.
The bank’s alarms failed to trigger as they looted the safes after closing time, and didn’t actually sound until they left the bank’s at 5am the next day – but they escaped in their getaway vehicles just before police arrived on the scene.
Now, bank customers who were victims of the heist have now offered a reward of around £263,235 (€300,000) and have hired acclaimed private investigator Josef Resch, 76, to hunt down the gang.
Resch said: “In one of the suitcases, the suspects even brought their own mini-toilet so they wouldn’t have to use the bank’s restrooms and leave any DNA traces.
“It was probably a chemical toilet, like the kind campers often use. Perhaps one of them worked for the bank, or for a security or cleaning company.
“It’s incredibly brazen to lock themselves in there, getting into the vault, and then breaking open hundreds of safe deposit boxes overnight without being noticed.”
A bank security guard reportedly saw two people with SUVs in the bank’s courtyard, but didn’t note down the licence plates.
However, Resch is confident the offer of a reward will lead to a crucial tip-off.
Public prosecutor’s office spokesman Jens Buscher confirmed the investigation is ongoing, reporting: “The value of the stolen goods now amounts to over €19m.”
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