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00:00Our story today is about one of the smartest and greatest thefts in the history of Germany.
00:06The intriguing part of this theft is that it was not carried out by Europeans or Germans,
00:12but by a brilliant Arab gang. Due to the extreme cleverness of this operation,
00:17the German government tried to keep the details of the incident under wraps because what happened
00:22put the German authorities in a very embarrassing position in front of the world. The theft revealed
00:28the cunning of the thieves, which surpassed the police's expertise in handling major crimes,
00:35making it one of the most daring and thrilling operations in German history. An armed gang
00:42stormed a bank and took customers and employees hostage. The police quickly surrounded the entire
00:49area and began lengthy negotiations with the gang members. After hours of discussions,
00:55the police decided to storm the bank to end the crisis, but upon entering, a shocking surprise
01:02awaited them, as the criminals had disappeared without leaving any trace or evidence behind.
01:08Despite the police surrounding the bank from all sides, the question arose, where did the thieves go,
01:16and how did they manage to escape? The events of our true story begin in the heart of the German
01:24capital, Berlin, on the 27th of June, 1995. At 10 o'clock in the morning, when the police and special
01:33forces moved towards one of the banks in response to a robbery alarm, they surrounded the bank completely
01:41upon arrival. They discovered that sixteen employees and customers were held hostage inside the bank by
01:50three armed men wearing masks that concealed their faces, and they were armed with machine guns,
01:59pistols, and hand grenades. And when they saw the danger of the weapons the thieves were carrying,
02:05they realized the difficulty of the mission, so they requested assistance from the military tactical
02:11forces to handle the situation. I immediately went to the bank, and snipers quickly spread over the
02:18rooftops of the buildings surrounding the bank until it was surrounded from all sides in just a few
02:25minutes. At the same time, the media arrived at the scene and began covering the events, spreading the
02:33news throughout the country. Afterwards, they closed off the entire area and prevented civilians or any
02:40unauthorized person from entering. Then, the police and authorities established a direct line of
02:46communication with the gang inside the bank to learn their demands. After thirty minutes of negotiations,
02:53one of the gunmen released a hostage carrying a message in his hand.
02:57The gunmen say in this message that they are demanding a ransom of twelve million dollars.
03:04The message also includes a warning that any attempt by the police to storm the bank
03:09will directly lead to shooting the hostages and then exchanging fire with the police.
03:16As time passed, the police tried to reopen negotiations with the gang, demanding the release of some
03:24hostages before giving them the money. However, the gunmen refused the police's demands and remained firm in their
03:32decision. When the police tried to communicate with them again, the response from the gang was shocking,
03:38as they cut off all lines of communication with the police and refused to talk or negotiate with them for
03:44five hours.
03:45During this period, the police and authorities waited anxiously because they did not know what was
03:52happening inside the bank and could not do anything. Finally, at six o'clock in the evening, the silence was
04:01broken. A young mother, one of the hostages, was forced to call a local radio station in Berlin with a
04:09trembling and panic-filled voice. She began pleading for help and rescue for herself and the other
04:17hostages. This call was a very clever move by the gang, as people became more sympathetic to the hostages and
04:26more
04:26worried about their fate, especially when they heard the voice of this mother pleading for her life. This put the
04:34police
04:34and authorities under great pressure to provide the money and deliver it to the gang as quickly as possible.
04:41However, despite the increasing pressure and tension on the police, they remained firm in their stance and refused to
04:49comply with the gunmen's demands, continuing to surround the bank without providing any official response.
04:56On the other hand, the gang also held its position and refused to communicate directly with the police.
05:03After an hour passed, the police began to raise troubling questions. Why does this gang refuse to
05:10speak directly with them and allow the hostages to contact the radio and ask for help from people?
05:17This seemed mysterious to them. In any case, the police did not take any actual steps and remained content
05:25with monitoring and waiting. But moments later, the gang announced that their patients had run out and
05:32started firing into the sky. When the police heard the sound of gunfire coming from inside the bank,
05:38a state of panic and tension spread among the security forces. None of them knew exactly what was
05:45happening, but they believed that the gunmen had started carrying out their threats or had shot one of
05:51the hostages. Immediately, the security leaders gathered and began discussing all possible options to
05:58deal with the situation, with one of them suggesting bringing an armored truck and storming the bank by
06:04force. But before they could execute any plan, something strange happened that turned the tables.
06:12Suddenly, a masked gunman came out of the bank holding a hostage and headed directly in front of the police
06:19and the media.
06:20He shouted angrily, saying that we will start shooting all the hostages one by one if you do not meet
06:28our
06:28demands immediately. This open threat doubled the pressure on the police and authorities, who found themselves in a
06:36very difficult position between rescuing the hostages and preventing the situation from escalating further.
06:43After intense discussions between the police and authorities, they decided to take a strategic step to
06:49resolve the crisis by bringing one-third of the ransom amount requested by the gunmen, which is $4 million,
06:56as a gesture to show the gunmen their goodwill to resolve this crisis peacefully. And at 7.30 in the
07:04evening,
07:04this money was delivered to the gang by a police officer wearing only his underwear to assure the
07:11gunman that he was unarmed. After receiving the money again, the gunman cut off all means of
07:18communication, leaving the police in a state of anticipation and waiting for two and a half hours
07:23without any updates or news. They did not know what the gunmen were doing inside the bank. The situation
07:30remained the same until the police phone rang again. The callers were the gang members calling from the
07:37bank's phone. This time, they asked the police to bring a bus for them in front of the bank with
07:44the
07:44remaining ransom amount inside it, in addition to bringing a helicopter and placing it in a neighborhood
07:51close to the bank. They also informed the police that they would leave the bank for the bus
07:56at exactly two o'clock in the morning. The police agreed to the gang's demands and prepared the
08:03bus with the required amount. At midnight, the bus was ready in front of the bank with all the
08:10arrangements. A helicopter was also ready. Waiting for them at the location previously specified by the
08:18gunman. When two o'clock in the morning arrived, the gunman did not move as they had promised the police,
08:24which meant they were still inside the bank. Therefore, the police decided to wait and monitor
08:30in front of the bank for another hour and a half. At 3.30 in the morning, the police received
08:35a call from
08:36the bank. This time, the caller was not one of the gang members, but the call was from the bank
08:43manager
08:43himself with a trembling voice. He informed the police that all the gunmen went down to the basement
08:50and did not reappear. Without hesitation, the police command gave an immediate order for the special
08:57forces to quickly storm the bank, and when they entered, they took control of the ground floor,
09:03where they found all the hostages safe, and none of them were harmed. They evacuated them from the bank.
09:10Then the special forces officers went down to the basement. After searching it carefully,
09:16they found no one there. They realized that the only place the gunmen might be hiding was the bank's
09:22vault. They went down to it and surrounded the vault door from the right and left. They opened it
09:28slightly and then threw a flashbang inside the vault. Then they stormed the place forcefully,
09:34and when they entered the vault they were unexpectedly shocked as they found no one inside. They also
09:41discovered that more than two hundred safety deposit boxes had been opened, and their contents, including
09:48money and valuable jewelry worth millions of dollars, had been stolen. The strange thing is that the gang
09:55completely disappeared from the bank without leaving any trace, even though the police had surrounded the
10:01place from all angles. The question arises again. Where did they disappear to? For many, this is considered
10:10the smartest bank robbery in history. The planner and mastermind of this operation was merely a technical
10:18assistant for x-rays in a hospital in Germany. He was fired due to some issues, which left him unemployed,
10:27and no one wanted to hire him again. Instead of surrendering to his reality, he decided to plan a massive
10:34robbery
10:35and execute it with the help of a group of his friends and acquaintances. So how did this simple man
10:41transform
10:42from a technician in a hospital to the mastermind of the largest bank heist in history? And how could he
10:51and his friends
10:52steal money and valuable jewelry worth more than 12 million dollars and then suddenly disappear without
11:01leaving a trace? The hero of our story is a Syrian man named Khaled Al Barrazi. He left his country
11:09for
11:09Germany in 1986 to improve his life circumstances. After a short time spent in the German capital, Berlin,
11:17he got a job in a hospital as an x-ray technician assistant, but his expectations for a better life
11:24in Germany were not met, and his income was not sufficient for him during that period. This led Khaled
11:31to become involved in the world of crime, where he started by stealing medications and equipment from
11:37the hospital. Over time, he escalated his crimes to drug trafficking. But the police quickly arrested him,
11:45and he served a prison sentence for two years from 1991 to 1993. Inside the prison, Khaled met another
11:54person with the same ideas and ambitions named Jambri. A strong relationship quickly developed between
12:02them, and they became friends. Since then, the two began planning the biggest bank robbery in Germany's
12:10history after their release from prison. He began searching for their suitable target in the streets
12:17of Berlin. Khaled had a brother named Tony, who owned a car repair shop in an upscale neighborhood. Khaled
12:25began searching within the area where his brother's workshop was located. After a long search, they chose
12:32their target, which was a branch of the trade bank. To execute their plan, Khaled dressed elegantly, and
12:40pretended to be a customer interested in the bank's services. He went to the bank and asked them about
12:45the methods they offer to protect valuable items inside the private vaults. An employee took him to the
12:52basement where the safety deposit boxes are kept, and as soon as he laid eyes on the hundreds of those
12:58boxes,
13:00Khaled's mouth watered when he realized that inside lay priceless treasures and wealth.
13:08After leaving the bank, Khaled decided to look for a third person to help them rob this bank,
13:13as he believes that carrying out such operations requires a multidisciplinary team. Therefore, Khaled
13:20suggested to his friend Ibrahim to join them and presented him with the idea. As soon as he heard that,
13:26Ibrahim got excited and quickly accepted the offer, and he started thinking with them about making a
13:31plan to rob this bank. Thanks to the city's public archive, they were able to find the architectural
13:37plans of the bank building. They discovered that the building was originally a clothing store before
13:42it became a bank. Because of these plans, Khaled knew that the floor in the basement was relatively weak,
13:49so they decided to dig a tunnel underground. It was easy to execute because the soil in Berlin is mostly
13:57composed of sand. The ground was not hard or rocky, making digging very easy. Khaled and Ibrahim realized
14:07that the real challenge was not in the digging itself, but in choosing the right place to start digging first,
14:14and then how to reach the bank's vault second. After that, they searched for the closest place
14:20to the bank where they could start digging, and they found an empty garage near the bank.
14:25This garage is about 200 meters away from the bank. Khaled did not hesitate to seize the opportunity.
14:32He contacted the garage owner and told him that he was a Greek merchant needing to rent the garage to
14:38store his goods. After brief negotiations, they reached an agreement on their rental price. After
14:44securing the garage to start digging, the next step was to find a team to carry out this operation with
14:51them. The first person they recruited was Khaled's brother, Tony, who owns a car workshop near the bank.
14:58As for Ibrahim, he took on the responsibility of gathering the rest of the gang members,
15:03because he knows many people who might be willing to carry out such an operation.
15:08Ibrahim then recruited another person. From the Arab community in Berlin, named Musa,
15:16he convinced him to join them. Thus, the team became five people, Khaled, his brother Tony Gambrium,
15:23Ibrahim, and his friend Musa. In June 1994, these five started working on digging the tunnel from the
15:32garage. The operation was complex and divided into two phases. The first was digging the sand and
15:39removing it from the tunnel. The second was reinforcing the tunnel to prevent its collapse,
15:45where they used more than three tons of wood and metal to create a strong support structure to
15:50maintain the tunnel's stability and prevent it from collapsing. In addition, they installed ventilation
15:57pipes and electrical wires to provide lighting inside the tunnel. They were always digging nonstop for
16:04twelve to fourteen hours a day, with two or three of them taking turns each time. Khaled and his team
16:11named this project The Dream and continued working nonstop for five consecutive months, overcoming all
16:18difficulties to accomplish their plan. Despite all the efforts made during this period, they were only able to
16:26dig a third of the distance to the bank. To reach the bank quickly, Khaled proposed a very clever plan.
16:34Since they were digging directly towards the bank, they knew it would take them more time and double the
16:41effort. Instead, Khaled's plan was to dig towards the stormwater drainage pipe used during heavy rains and
16:50storms as this pipe runs along the street and reaches a place very close to the bank. After months of
16:59continuous
16:59work, Khaled and his companions succeeded in reaching the drainage pipe, through which they passed until
17:07they reached the area near the bank. Then they began digging a new tunnel again, extending from the pipe to
17:15the bank's vault where the safes are located. However, this stage was more difficult than the previous tunnel,
17:21as they faced a major challenge because they needed to dispose of the soil resulting from the digging
17:27outside the tunnel, and the distance was too far to carry it back to the garage. Despite these obstacles,
17:33the team continued digging, but this time very slowly, and they continued the digging operations for a
17:40few more days. Then, one day, an unexpected event occurred. While working in the tunnel, Khaled saw
17:49workers in front of the bank, exactly above the same place where they were digging the tunnel.
17:55These workers were maintaining the cables directly above the tunnel. Khaled and his friends realized they
18:03had to act quickly, remove the supports from one part of the tunnel, and let it collapse. Because the
18:10workers digging above during the excavation and maintenance would discover it, and thus their plan
18:17would fail. Due to this sudden development, they decided to temporarily stop digging and wait until
18:24the workers above the tunnel completed their work, which took a full four months. However, they were lucky
18:32because the workers never found the tunnel. After months of stopping, Khaled and his team returned to
18:39work and continued digging towards the bank's vault. Finally, after about a year of digging and hard work,
18:47they managed to reach the bank vault. Ibrahim suggested that they sneak into the vault through the tunnel at
18:54night during the weekend, to have enough time to steal everything and escape in the best condition.
19:00But they faced a new challenge. This bank was equipped with surveillance cameras and advanced alarm systems,
19:10which meant there was a high possibility of being caught during the operation. Therefore,
19:17they needed a new plan to distract the police from them.
19:21And here Khaled had a crazy idea that no one expected and the police would never think of.
19:31And on the morning of the 27th of June, 1995, Khaled, along with his brother Tony and his friend
19:39Ibrahim, stormed the bank through the front door armed with heavy weapons, and upon entering the
19:44middle of the bank, they took everyone present as hostages. At first, the operation appeared to be
19:51just a traditional armed robbery, which made the police focus only on negotiating with them.
19:58During these negotiations, Khaled and Tony took responsibility for managing the hostages
20:03and negotiating with the police. Meanwhile, their friend Ibrahim went to the basement,
20:09entered the bank vault, and started drilling a small hole in the floor. Through this hole,
20:14the remaining two members of the team entered the underground tunnel using drilling machines and
20:20necessary equipment. Once they entered the bank vault, they began breaking and opening the locks of
20:26the safety deposit boxes, taking advantage of the chaos upstairs to complete their operation
20:32without drawing attention. When the police arrived at the scene, Khaled sent one of the
20:38hostages carrying a message specifying the ransom amount. After the first few hours, another hostage
20:45was released. Then contact with the police was cut off for five full hours. The main goal of these actions
20:52was not merely to signal good intentions to the police, but to confuse them and distract their attention
21:00to gain more time. Because during this period, the rest of the gang members in the basement
21:06were working non-stop to open as many safety deposit boxes as possible, and when they managed to break in,
21:15they found real treasures of jewelry and gold. Then they began packing the loot into bags. After that,
21:24they placed them on a special sled to transport them quickly through the tunnel leading to the garage.
21:31At the same time, Khaled continued to outsmart the police with his genius, resorting to a new clever trick
21:39by allowing one of the hostages to speak to the public through a radio station. This action increased
21:46a lot of pressure on the police and authorities, causing them to become confused again and hesitant to
21:52carry out any sudden intervention. Then Khaled added a new trick to pressure the authorities. He fired two
21:59shots at the ceiling, which suggested to the police that the situation had become more dangerous,
22:05giving his team more time for the theft and escape, as the police thought the gunmen had started
22:11shooting at the hostages, significantly increasing the pressure on them.
22:15Fearing an escalation of events, they handed over one-third of the ransom demanded by the gang to
22:22calm the situation. The authorities handed over four million dollars to Khaled and his gang while they
22:29were opening all the safety deposit boxes in the vault. After they finished collecting the loot,
22:35they requested the police to provide a bus and a helicopter as part of their escape plan,
22:41and that was the last contact between them and the police. After midnight, while everyone was
22:48unaware, the gang members quietly descended through the hole they had dug in the basement floor,
22:53then sneaked through the tunnel until they reached the garage. At the same time, the police were
23:00surrounding the bank from all angles, waiting for the gang to exit through the front door. However, Khaled and
23:06his companions succeeded in passing beneath their feet without being noticed. As soon as they reached the
23:13garage, they left immediately, carrying with them more than twelve million dollars in cash and jewelry.
23:20After they completed the operation, the special forces quickly stormed the bank.
23:26It did not take long for the police to discover the tunnel through which the thieves escaped,
23:31and when they followed the path of this tunnel it led them directly to the garage. On the other hand,
23:39the thieves had planned everything with great care, leaving no trace behind that night.
23:45The gang members returned to their homes quietly, as if nothing had happened.
23:50They sat in front of the television watching news reports about their crime, while Khaled was completely
23:56confident in the success of his plan and certain that they left no evidence behind. Therefore,
24:02he ordered everyone to stay in Berlin and continue their daily lives normally without arousing suspicion.
24:10However, the police were not ready to give up so easily, as they formed a special investigation
24:14team consisting of sixty investigators, all determined to solve the mystery of the theft.
24:20This team began investigating and analyzing every step of the operation,
24:25searching for any clue that might lead them to this gang. The first task was to carefully examine the bank,
24:32but they found nothing. No fingerprints or any DNA traces belonging to any of the gunmen.
24:40Afterwards, the investigators interrogated the hostages, hoping that one of them had noticed
24:45something useful, or information, that could help them find the people who carried out this operation.
24:52The only information they obtained was that the gunmen might have been of Arab origin based on their
25:00accent while speaking. Immediately, the investigators went to the garage owner and interrogated him. He
25:08told them that he rented his garage to a Greek man who claimed to be a merchant, and that's all
25:14he knows
25:15about him. The investigators continued searching for any sign or evidence leading them to the thieves.
25:22Suddenly, luck was on their side when a construction worker, working in a building near the garage,
25:28told them he saw three men with Arab features throwing sand on the building where he was working.
25:34Therefore, the investigators went to the site and took a small sample of the sand to examine it in the
25:42lab.
25:42The tests showed that this sand was exactly identical to the sand inside the tunnel,
25:50which means that the two men who were throwing sand at the construction site are members of the gang.
25:57Based on the description provided by the construction worker, the police drew sketches of the suspects,
26:03which were quickly published in newspapers and broadcast on television stations,
26:07in the hope that someone would recognize them. A few days later, the police received a call from an
26:13anonymous person saying that there is a man. He works in a car workshop near the bank. His facial
26:20features resemble one of the people drawn in the published pictures. This man was none other than
26:26Tony Al-Barzi, Khalid's brother. The police immediately headed to his workshop and began questioning him,
26:33asking some questions, but he repeatedly insisted that he knew nothing about the theft or anyone who
26:40might be involved in it. However, the investigators did not believe him, and their suspicions increased
26:47even more. During the interrogation, one of the officers noticed that Tony was drinking juice,
26:53so her waited until he finished and took the can without drawing his attention. The can was sent to the
26:59lab to verify his fingerprints. They also checked his name in their database. The results showed that
27:07Tony has a brother named Khalid Al-Barzi, who was imprisoned a few years ago on several criminal charges.
27:15From this moment, Khalid and Tony became the main suspects in the case, and the police directed their
27:21investigations entirely towards them. However, they did not have enough evidence to arrest them.
27:26Meanwhile, the authorities decided to conduct a thorough examination of the tunnel and requested assistance
27:33from the army to conduct a precise survey before dismantling it. They conducted a full scan of the tunnel
27:40using the latest technologies in an attempt to find any trace that could lead them directly to the
27:46perpetrators. However, despite all the efforts made by the police and the army, they failed.
27:53Then the army returned to the site again and began dismantling the tunnel. But this time,
27:59they used advanced infrared scanning techniques. Every piece of wood removed from the tunnel was
28:06examined carefully. And after thorough inspections, they finally found the first piece of evidence.
28:13They obtained a fingerprint imprinted on one of the wooden boards used to support the tunnel. This
28:20fingerprint was the only evidence the investigators obtained, but it was enough to link one of the
28:26gang members to the crime. This fingerprint belonged to its owner, Tony Al-Barzi. Following this discovery,
28:34the police immediately arrested Tony and took him to the interrogation room. The investigators continued
28:40questioning him for seven continuous hours. During the investigation, Tony became very confused and
28:47extremely nervous. The investigators kept pressing him until he finally broke down and started confessing
28:52to the investigators, telling them everything. He revealed to them the full details of the operation
28:58and the names of all the gang members led by his brother Khaled, the mastermind of the operation.
29:04The police quickly moved to arrest the rest of the gang members and managed to capture Khaled and Jambri
29:11while they were fleeing outside Germany. As for the remaining two members of the gang, Ibrahim and Musa,
29:17they were tracked down and arrested as well. Faced with overwhelming evidence, they confessed to their
29:24crimes after being convicted of the charges against them. The trial continued for a few months. Afterwards,
29:31the court issued prison sentences ranging from five years to ten years, except for Khaled, who was
29:40sentenced to 14 years in prison as the mastermind of the operation. Khaled also had a golden opportunity
29:48to escape immediately after carrying out the operation, but he delayed in Berlin, confident that
29:53the police would not find any evidence leading to him. His arrogance and overconfidence were the reasons
29:59for his downfall in the end. However, although the police arrested all the gang members, most of the stolen
30:06money remained a hidden mystery. The authorities managed to recover only one-third of the amount, while eight
30:14million dollars remained completely hidden, and no one knew where it went. However, Khaled was the only person
30:24who knew the location of the remaining money, but he refused to talk despite several attempts by the
30:30police to persuade him. Afterward, the investigators offered him a reduced sentence in exchange for
30:36revealing the location of the money, but he decided to remain silent and not speak. Because he was sure
30:43of only one thing. After his release from prison in the year 2010, the fortune would be waiting for him
30:50in a
30:50safe place. It's true that he received a prison sentence of 14 years, which is a long time, but in
30:57the end, when he gets out, he will achieve the dream of wealth that he has had since he came
31:01to Germany,
31:02and that dream will become a reality. And thus ended one of the boldest and smartest thefts in the history
31:11of Germany, yet its memory will remain etched in the records of major crimes that almost became perfect.
31:18And you, dear viewer, share your opinion with us in the comments. If you enjoyed the video,
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