On November 19, 2019 at 2:20 a.m., four of the perpetrators appeared for the first time at the Dresden Residenzschloss.

There are still five days to go before the sensational burglary in which they will steal jewels worth hundreds of millions.

The men walk along the west side of the museum complex, where the rooms of the Green Vault are on the ground floor, the treasury that Saxony's Elector Augustus the Strong had set up 300 years ago and made accessible to the public, of course selected.

Stephen Locke

Correspondent for Saxony and Thuringia based in Dresden.

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The perpetrators strolled along the fence for a good 20 minutes, repeatedly crossing Sophienstrasse to the opposite Schinkelwache, the ticket office of the Semperoper, and probing the terrain.

At 2.42 a.m. three of them go to the corner of the northwest tower of the castle, they have a kind of duffel bag with them and take a quick look around.

Then they climb over a piece of wall that connects the fence and the facade.

All of this was recorded by surveillance cameras, which bring the events in real time to the hall of the Dresden Regional Court, where since the end of January six defendants have been tried, whom the public prosecutor's office accuses of, among other things, this serious gang theft.

For a good half hour, the men operate behind the section of wall where the window through which they will break into the museum five days later is located.

On the surveillance cameras you can see: nothing

The location is perfectly chosen, as it lies in a narrow triangle of wall, tower and building that remains dark on the surveillance cameras.

No matter how hard you try, you see: nothing.

From time to time, only a flashlight flashes while one of the perpetrators stands or rather walks outside: visibly nervous, he keeps running from the fence across the street to the police station and back.

At 3:09 a.m., large shadows of the perpetrators suddenly appear on the castle facade as, against the light of the street lamps, they climb the wall one after the other and jump back onto the street.

Two minutes later they leave the place.

Your first preparations have been made.

Almost all of the six accused are following the recordings with great interest, and they may even be watching the work - at least some of them are looking proud.

The prosecution is sure to have the main perpetrators.

The men between the ages of 23 and 28 come from the Berlin Remmo clan and all but one have already attracted attention.

Two of them, Wissam and Ahmed, are already in prison for stealing the 100-kilo gold coin from Berlin's Bode Museum.

The value of Dresden jewels, even on the black market - because regular jewelers would recognize the pieces immediately - is many times that of the coin.

There is no trace of the loot.

But on the first days of the trial, the main concern is how the perpetrators were able to get into the museum, which is said to be secured like Fort Knox.

The finding becomes more frightening with each day of the trial.

Because it was made very easy for them.

It starts with the surveillance videos.

There was no shortage of cameras, a total of 20 were installed around the castle at the time, three of which covered the facade behind which the Green Vault is located.

Not only on November 19, but also on November 21 and 23, they recorded how the perpetrators calmly went about their preparations.

The audience in the hall has to watch in amazement as the men climb over the wall again on those days, how their flashlights flash several times and are clearly reflected in the windows and how one or two accomplices on the street at nighttime are anything but calm expire.