The cashier was heading for the department store "Alexa". He was passing a quiet side street when an Audi Avant A6 sat down right in front of his nose and slowed him down. From behind a R-Class Mercedes rammed the van - the car and its crew were stuck. Five masked men surrounded him. Two of them threatened the two drivers with submachine guns.
The other offenders put wedges under the wheels and took care of the hydraulic spreader - a device with which normally the fire department opens doors of all kinds. The robbers used it to open the stern of the money carrier like a sardine can. They were still loading the money into their cars when they heard the sirens of a patrol car.
Frantically they jumped into their cars, did not even close the tailgate of the Mercedes. When starting the Audi grazed the left front corner of the van, the Mercedes rear left corner. It fell a box of money from the Mercedes. It contained two million euros.
Nationality: unclear
The raid and the following, rapid chase on 19 October 2018 caused a great deal of excitement. Almost a year later, the trial of three alleged perpetrators has begun. A suspect is still on the run, the identity of two other men is still unknown.
In front of the Berlin district court is now sitting Suphi S., a strong, trained in home economics 38-year-olds. His nationality is unclear, as with the other defendants. Suphi S. is said to have leveraged the money carrier and driven the Mercedes. Aiman S. is 33 years old and is a restaurateur. He is said to have threatened the two drivers with the weapon. Abdallah T., 33 years old, hotel expert, is said to have provided the hydraulic spreader and the R-Class Mercedes.
Paul Zinken / DPA
Court in Berlin: The defendants were only present when the press photographers had left the hall
In his indictment, prosecutor Dirk Eckert outlines the course of the flight through Berlin. In the midst of rush hour, the perpetrators raced through the city at 100 km / h. They caused quite a few accidents: They drove a scooter driver against the calf and destroyed the trim of his vehicle. They collided with a parked VW T6 and a truck until they were stopped in a narrow side street by an oncoming vehicle.
Weapon was set to continuous fire
At that moment, one of the seated in Audi, previously unknown offender grabbed the submachine gun, opened the sunroof and shot at the approaching from behind patrol car. He fired on the asphalt, the projectile hit the engine compartment. The police broke off the persecution.
"A long-firearm can deliver 600 rounds per minute," explains the prosecutor in a process break. The gun had been set to continuous fire, but had a stoppage after the first shot. "It's pure coincidence that nothing happened," says Eckert.
Terrified by the sight of the shooter, the oncoming motorist sat back. He rammed a traffic sign. The robbers continued their flight. The Mercedes almost collided with a truck. Abruptly Suphi S. braked and at the same time have hit the steering wheel. In this maneuver, the right front tire broke and fell off the rim. With a broken front axle, the Mercedes remained in an idyllic backyard - the three inmates fled on foot. The captured five million euros had to leave behind them.
No alibi for the crime
In an underground car park, the second escape vehicle was later found: The Audi had been misappropriated at a car rental. The police found a lot of traces, including the DNA of Suphi S. and Abdallah T. Six or seven weeks after the attack, the two men were arrested, in July then Aiman S.
Suphi S. denies his attorney to be involved in the robbery. From the point of view of the prosecutor, he also hears a wiretapped telephone conversation in which he spoke of an injury to his foot. Then the officials had looked at the existing video of the act again very carefully. They noticed that two perpetrators had fallen one of the money boxes on the left foot. "And he sustained that injury on the tattag," says Dirk Eckert. Even an alibi Suphi S. and Aiman S. for the time of the crime can not show.
120 witnesses are heard
The lawyer of Abdallah T. explains that his client did not know about the raid plans. A man who is known to him as a "brazen burglar" and whose identity he does not want to divulge, had asked him in October 2017 to get for a salary of 2000 € a hydraulic spreader. He thought the device would be needed to wind up an ATM.
In June 2018, another man asked him to call him a Mercedes from the public order office. He would get 500 euros for it. "Why does not he do that himself," he had asked himself, but nevertheless accepted the order.
The circumstantial process becomes complex, 120 witnesses are to be heard. Among them is the man who filmed the robbery for two and a half minutes from his balcony and later sold the video to a tabloid. The video is a good piece of evidence, but because the man did not call the police, he could be charged with defeating him.