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© Photograph: Tobias Koch/APPolice say the 'very professional' tunnel dug by the robbers must have taken weeks or even months to complete.
Thieves set fire to the passage which led from an underground garage into the safe as they escaped with their haul.

Robbers dug a 30-metre (100-foot) tunnel into the safe deposit room of a Berlin bank and escaped with their haul, setting a fire as they left to cover their tracks, according to German police.

Berlin police spokesman Thomas Neuendorf said the tunnel led from an underground garage into the bank's safe deposit room.

Neuendorf told The Associated Press Monday that the tunnel was "very professional" and must have taken weeks or even months to complete. It was elaborately constructed and even had ceiling supports.

Police were alerted to the break-in early on Monday when a security guard noticed smoke coming from the deposit room.

Neuendorf says police are still trying to determine what valuables were stolen from the deposit boxes.

Details of the heist called to mind the spectacular robbery of another Berlin bank in 1995. During that robbery thieves entered the bank through the door, took a hostage and demanded a helicopter and ransom.

Police besieged and eventually stormed the safe room where the thieves had holed up only to find out they had escaped through a tunnel dug by accomplices. Several but not all of the thieves were later caught.