FIVE men were sent to jail yesterday for between six and 13 years for their part in last year's "tunnel robbery" in Berlin, one of the most spectacular bank robberies in German criminal history.
The tunnel gangsters were hailed by the German media as "super brains" after they forced their way into a bank in a Berlin suburb in June last year and held 16 customers hostage for more than 18 hours.
While police negotiated the payment of a DMS.3 million (£2.4 million) ransom, the thieves stole more than DM10 million (£4 million) in cash and valuables from deposit boxes. When police stormed the bank they found the hostages unharmed but the thieves had escaped four hours earlier through a tunnel they dug beneath the bank vaults, taking both the ransom money and the stolen loot.
The 170 metre long tunnel, which took 16 months to dig, was four metres below the ground and was an average of 60 centimetres in diameter. It led to a garage rented by the gang, where they changed their clothes and made good their escape.
Seven people have now been brought to trial in connection with the case but only one third of the stolen money has been recovered. Khaled Al Barazi, a 38 year old Syrian identified by prosecutors as the mastermind behind, the robbery, was sent to jail for 13 years yesterday. But he told the court that other, more powerful people were behind the crime, adding that he feared they would take revenge if he named them.
Investigators believe that the missing loot, which could amount to as much as DM16 million, may now be in Damascus.
