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

GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (AP) — Thieves stole tens of millions of euros’ worth of property from safety deposit boxes inside a German bank vault that they drilled into Monday during the holiday lull, police said.

Some 2,700 bank customers were affected by the theft in Gelsenkirchen, police and the Sparkasse bank said. About 3,000 safety deposit boxes, which made up more than 95% of the bank’s inventory, were broken into.

Thomas Nowaczyk, a police spokesperson, said investigators believe the theft was worth between 10 million and 90 million euros ($11.7 million to $105.7 million).

German news agency dpa reported that the theft could be one of Germany’s largest.

The bank remained closed Tuesday, when some 200 people showed up demanding to get inside, dpa reported.

Each safety deposit box is insured for 10,300 euros ($12,088) unless a bank customer additionally insures it privately, Sparkasse said on its website.

A fire alarm summoned police officers and firefighters to the bank branch shortly before 4 a.m. Monday. They found a hole in the wall and the vault ransacked. Police believe a large drill was used to break through the vault’s basement wall.

Witnesses told investigators they saw several men carrying large bags in a nearby parking garage over the weekend. Video footage from the garage shows masked people inside a stolen vehicle early Monday, police said.

The fire alarm was also triggered Saturday but authorities did not find any damage.

Gelsenkirchen is about 192 kilometers (119 miles) northwest of Frankfurt.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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