Borough Park, NY – Thieves hid behind a fake chimney to cut a hole in the roof of a Brooklyn bank – then made off with the contents of 60 safe-deposit boxes, police sources told The Post, (and as was reported first here on Vos Iz Neias).
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The burglars – captured on surveillance cameras – operated heavy-duty blowtorches normally used under water to slice through the roof and enter the Astoria Federal Savings Bank on East Second Street and 18th Avenue in Borough Park.
Bank employees discovered the break-in yesterday morning.
The powerful tools were left at the scene and at a nearby construction site. A perfectly extracted circular slab of concrete from the roof was found nearby.
The caper set off a panic among customers, dozens of whom rushed to the bank to see whether their valuables were stolen.
“I have my jewelry, my valuable papers in the box!” one elderly woman cried.
“What am I going to do? There’s no insurance.”
Nazme Begum, 23, said she had a safe-deposit box with gold and important papers, including her children’s birth certificates.
“I’m sick over this. I purposely use the bank because it’s supposed to be safer than my house,” she said.
Another woman said she has had her box for 40 years and was devastated to think she might have lost “valuable pictures of my family that I can’t replace.”
She stood for hours in front of the bank, hoping to find out whether she was one of the victims.
Last night, bank officials still couldn’t tell which boxes were broken into because cops were combing the safe area for clues.
On the surveillance video, taken from a neighboring restaurant, at least three bandits can be seen climbing a ladder to the adjacent building to gain access to the bank’s roof.
The crew set up a false chimney to hide behind while they worked.
Brocha Landau, who owns Dougie’s Barbecue, said he grew suspicious a week ago, when his surveillance camera was stolen from outside his restaurant.
“I warned them [the bank], but they just didn’t take me seriously,” he said.
Astoria spokesman Brian Edwards said it was unclear whether box holders would be reimbursed.
“unclear” means likely not ..K.I.T.
I’d hazard a guess to say that those people worrying about their papers don’t have that much to worry about. Thieves tend to look for cash, gold and jewelry not ‘valuable pictures of family’.
I don’t see why the bank should recompense the boxholders, it doesn’t appear as if the breakin was their fault. If you have something valuable you insure it, whether or not it’s sitting in a bank vault.
The robberies in Boro park are getting out of hand , Its now a daily occurence
You are so smart #2 . Wait till they get your box, etc.
where were the bank’s cameras ?
If hashem wants you to have a loss nothing will help so let’s do tsheuvah NOW so moshiach will come
I atually heard a call on the police radio that night for an alarm going off in the bank, 1 officer went and said that everything seemed secure
it was only the extra large size boxes
I know everyone keeps saying the same thing but come to think of it where WERE the banks alarms? Any answers? Not that it helps much. My alarm once went off on Shabbos which meant no one picked up when Central Station called. I live a block away from the police station and it took 2.5 hours until a police officer rang our bell. When they asked if everything was OK we were tempted to say, “Everyone’s dead already!!!!!!!!!!!!”
There has recently been some construction done at that branch, hmmmm
pretty cool story l’maaseh, i wonder if they watched “Oceans 11″….
Definitely counstruction workers. regular ghetto theives don’t know how to steal properly. also ggetting a printout of floor plans from the bank too. regular thieves don’t know that. and u never know about bank tellers because tellers don’t make too much money so it could be an inside job.
figure out where those tools were bought. and the finger prints and thhe fibers are probably going to be in the criminals clotthing.
lol I love forensic stuff.
there are supposed to be motion detectors inside the vault that is triggered if there is movement inside the safe outside normal business hours. these guys had to use a bypass on the alarm to make everything appear that it was a false alarm. the big banks have their own security guard back up team that should have responded to alarm within 5 minutes of first alarm. But i guess with the efor conomic conditions security is the first to go. Can i sell someone a mezuzah? For the smart guy looking for moshiach; you have to be zochah to be around after all said and done.
Only the large boxers touched. My family had one. All is gone. Papers were scattered all over the bank. They are saying it could have been done by the construction workers or group the remodeled the bank and new where everything was and the proper place to go in.
Sounds like a Hollywood movie, more than a real-life situation. What’s to stop guys like this from invading into a private home? If someone was on your neighbor’s roof, it is probably santa claws! We must all help each other, be aware of what is going on, and not be afraid to get involved.
Must be an inside job.also makes us wonder how safe the other branches are.
Thats Why I Dont Hold Any of these in the bank
What can we do.its a real shame What is the full address of the bank
it was 3 guys there they are on video it took 31 min to do it they blow toarched the boxes so then u dont need a key it was 75 boxes not 60 and there is no camras in that room there was a piece of paper over the motin sencers
The Kensington Branch of this bank is at Church and McDonald. The one that was robbed = Parkville. The Boro Park branch is on 13th Ave.
at midnight last night there was about 5 construction workers hoisting cement & plywood to the roof
there was also jeep with virginia plates – possibly an fbi agent
at about 1230 -10 cop cars showed up put the workers against the wall
but released them soon after ????????????????