Two years after a million-dollar coup with a fake money-carrier, the trial against several members of a gang has begun in Essen. At that time, 1.8 million euros were looted in a supermarket in Gronau.
One of the defendants made a brief confession. The 45-year-old was a member of a security service at the time of the crime and is said to have provided his accomplices with insider knowledge. "The allegations apply," said his defender Hans Reinhardt. In total, seven people are in court in the trial. They should also be responsible for other acts in changing participation.
According to the prosecution, the perpetrators had repainted a white VW van and turned it into a supposed money-carrier with magnetic foils. The number plates were duplicates of a really existing license plate. The employee of the robbed supermarket had no suspicions.
"That was almost ready for Hollywood," said lawyer Reinhardt on the sidelines of the process. "Almost as in the movie 'The gentlemen ask to checkout' about the postal migration in England." The aim was to make "cleverness high prey". "Everything was meticulously planned and thought out."
Attack on a jewelry dealer
The six other defendants from Recklinghausen, Marl, Cologne and Wachtberg near Bonn have so far expressed neither the deed in Essen nor the other allegations.
At the end of 2016, around half a million euros were stolen from a parked money transporter in Dortmund. According to the charges, the perpetrators had an original key. In Werne in the district of Unna, an ATM of Postbank was emptied in June 2017 - shortly after it had been filled. Again, the perpetrators should have had a key.
In Mönchengladbach, a jewelery trader was robbed and robbed on her doorstep in the spring of 2016. The value of the prey should amount to around 300,000 euros. In addition, the defendants are said to have planned further raids on banks and cash transporters. They are said to have spent the spoils for jewelry, cars, holidays and brothel visits.
The district court of Essen has scheduled 19 trial days until 19 December 2019 for the trial.
