Spectacular Heist in Sweden

(Stockholm, Sweden) Around 5AM this morning, Ulrika Lönngren, Police Chief of Västberga, heard several loud explosions and a helicopter hovering above the G4S Security Company facility, including a cash depot. The helicopter then left and headed north.

“The helicopter landed on the roof. Then they entered the building by breaking some windows. Next, several explosions were heard from within the building, and then they were seen loading things into the helicopter and lifting off,” she told the TT news agency.

The entire area surrounding the G4S facility has been cordoned off and police have set up a command centre at a nearby petrol station, where a large number of officers, police dogs, and emergency vehicles have gathered.

An officer on the scene told TT that the robbers made their daring rooftop landing and then entered the building using sledgehammers or something similar to break through the roof.

Caltraps - spikes spread across the road to burst car tyres - had been placed near the facility in an attempt to complicate efforts by police to approach the scene.

According to the southern district police, Sweden’s National Task Force, a paramilitary tactical unit within the National Criminal Investigation Department (Rikskriminalpolisen) is involved in the investigation.

The entire operation lasted about 20 minutes, but it remains unclear if the robbers made off with anything, police spokesperson Björn Engström said. [Note: Later report said they got away with 1 billion kronor ($146 million) which will cause short-term cash problems in the Stockholm area.]

Police helicopters located on nearby Värmdö were unable to be used in response to the robbery, prompting suspicions that they had been sabotaged.

But Engström said that the helicopters hadn’t been damaged. Rather, they found a bag marked "bomb" near the helicopters forcing officers to inspect the bags and the helicopters before attempting to take off, the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper reports.

Police have confirmed the helicopter used in the heist, a Bell 206 Jet Ranger, was stolen overnight from a helicopter hangar near Norrtälje north of Stockholm.

Later Wednesday morning the helicopter was found near Arninge about 30 kilometres north of the crime scene.

The manager of the cash depot said the facility has cameras everywhere. Therefore, I suspect the perpetrators will be quickly identified.