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Locker room of a bank (symbolic image): Most of the loot secured
Photo: Norbert Schmidt / IMAGO
A former banker has confessed to breaking into rows of customer safe deposit boxes in the vault of his Essen bank. The loot is said to amount to cash, gold and jewelry worth around 1.5 million euros. The 30-year-old has been in court in Essen since Monday. According to his own statements, he started the thefts because he couldn't pay for his planned wedding. After that he simply became “greedy”.
Twelve lockers are listed in the indictment. Almost all of them were pried open with a crowbar. According to his own statements, the defendant then closed the doors again with superglue. In March 2022, a customer noticed that his locker could no longer be opened.
Suspicion quickly fell on the defendant, who accused the customer, who then spent three weeks in custody. He also wrongly accused a trainee of complicity. “My house of cards was in danger of collapsing,” the defendant told the judges at the Essen regional court. “I wanted to avoid that at all costs.”
According to the court, the majority of the loot has been confiscated. The defendant faces three to three and a half years in prison. This was agreed upon at the start of the trial in the event of a comprehensive confession. The verdict is due to be pronounced in April.
mik/dpa