Brooklyn, NY – The NYPD is investigating a burglary at the Astoria Federal Savings Bank.
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Police of the 70th Pct. are on the scene at 4302 18th Avenue and East 2nd Street investigating a burglary that happened over the weekend, when perpetrators entered the bank from the roof and have broken into the safety deposit boxes of bank customers.
Sixty five deposit boxes have been broken into, NYPD detectives are working the investigation.
The perps left powerful tools on the roof and at a nearby construction site.
At East 2nd and 18th Ave. Lots of heimishe have safe deposits there.
They must’ve been in there for quite some time. It’s shocking how the bad economy always brings forth more robberies.
Astoria recently did alot of renovating. I wonder if the robber was one of the renovators.
should i take out my stuff??
does anyone know when the bank will reopen?
are the safe deposit boxes insured
do you know what number I should call tomorrow to find out what happened?
I highly doubt the Authenticity of this story, for two reasons.
1. How can someone drill thru the vault without being noticed?
2. Are there actually 65 constituents using this bank, to have their good stolen?
To 14, If the Bank is closed Sunday and they entered from the roof? They could have hypothetically gone in anytime after closing on Shabbos, (or, if closed Shabbos, Friday evening) and literally spend an entire day or more inside the locked vault, completely invisible to people walking by on the street.
I agree with #5 and I’m sure investigators will be looking into that very high likelihood.
it mused have been a inside job
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.
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.
I just called Astoria’s main number and they said that the branch is open so people can go and find out if they were affected. The person on the phone said that less than 3% of the boxes were ‘compromised’.
Brocha Landau his a sheeeeeeee
They say that only big boxes were emptied
To 21 – not true, I had the biggest box and its fine. They took the boxes which are “at the hand level” …so its easier to drill perhaps…I was there I saw….poor people:(
This may be a dumb question, but what good is surveillance if no one’s watching?
weren’t there any motion detectors that set off in the vault area? poor security systems I must say
Safe Deposit boxes are not insured by banks – it is responsibility of people to insure own stuff placed within just as you would your stuff at home.