Thanks to Doug for sending me this. I think what is interesting about this, is the complexity of the operation. These are not amateurs, and reading through the little details on this thing, you can’t help but to be impressed. The question I have, and Doug alluded to this as well, is if this is a state sponsored crime or what? Is this the act of a state sponsored cell, a terrorist cell, or just some really organized criminal gang?. What do they plan on doing with the cash, if this is part of a larger plot?
One more comment on this. These criminals were operating within the police and bank’s OODA loop, and defeated them. With the helicopter, they were able to accelerate the movements and maximize observational capability. The bag with ‘bomb’ written on it, is what threw the police off operationally, and bought the criminals some time. That is what is interesting to me about this whole thing. -Matt
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Helicopter used in Swedish cash depot raid
By Per Nyberg
09/23/2009
(CNN) — A helicopter and explosives were used in an early morning raid on a cash depot in Stockholm, Sweden, police said Wednesday.
A helicopter landed on the roof of the G4S cash depot in Vastberga, in the southern part of Stockholm, shortly after 5 a.m. (11 p.m. ET), Swedish police said.
Witness Bjorn Lockstrom first heard three loud bangs as the thieves used explosives to get into the building, he told Swedish CNN affiliate TV4.
“Then I saw two men hoisting themselves down into the building,” Lockstrom said. “Just minutes later, I saw how they hoisted bags of money up to the helicopter on the roof.”
The burglary happened only days before the 25th, the day every month when Swedes receive their monthly salary, so the depot was rife with cash.
The cash depot serves automatic teller machines all across Stockholm, TV4 reported.
Sources told TV4 the thieves could have gotten their hands on several hundreds of millions of kronors, the equivalent of tens of millions of U.S. dollars.
TV images from the scene showed a gray helicopter circling the building and then flying away. The thieves flew south after they had loaded the helicopter with the bags, according to a statement from police.
The helicopter was a Bell 206 Jet Ranger and had been stolen earlier during the night.
Swedish police couldn’t pursue the thieves because a bag marked “bomb” had been placed outside the police heliport, and officers had to deal with the bag before they could enter the heliport.
It was still unclear whether the bag contained a bomb.
The thieves also had blocked the roads around the cash depot with metal rods, TV4 reported.
No one was hurt during the burglary, police said in a statement.
The area around the building was sealed off as authorities interviewed witnesses, police said.
No one had been arrested, according to police.
Story here.
#1 by headjundi on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 - 6:45 pm
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Here is a youtube I found on it.
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Armed robbers used a helicopter to stage a spectacular raid on a secure warehouse on the outskirts of the Swedish capital on Wednesday.
The culprits landed a helicopter on the roof of the building in Vastberga, just south of Stockholm, and made their way into the building through a window after which witnesses reported several explosions, a police spokesman said.
“They then returned to the roof and loaded a number of objects into the helicopter and flew off,” he said.
Police did not know what the robbers had made off with but Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter says the storage facility is used to store cash.
Nobody was injured in the raid though several of the staff at the warehouse were left shaken up. The helicopter was later found empty north of the city and police dogs were being used to search the area, he said.
A police helicopter in the Stockholm area had been prevented from taking off in pursuit of the robbers by a suspicious bag close to the aircraft. A chopper had to be called in from Gothenburg, some 400 km (250 miles) away, he added.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv0ewSKByxM
#2 by headjundi on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - 8:56 pm
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Swedish police ‘knew of helicopter heist plans’
Published: 28 Sep 09 12:46 CET?Online: http://www.thelocal.se/22338/20090928/
Dictionary tool Double click on a word to get a translation
Swedish police had been forewarned by counterparts in Serbia about plans to rob a Stockholm cash depot, according to media reports. Six people have been taken into custody for their suspected involvement in the crime.
• Several arrests made in helicopter heist probe (27 Sep 09)
• Helicopter heist: millions offered as reward for tips (25 Sep 09)
• Helicopter robbery – how it happened (24 Sep 09)
Serbian police told the Aftonbladet newspaper they aware of plans to rob the Västberga cash depot and alerted Swedish police that a coup was imminent.
“We gave them everything that was needed to stop the robbery,” Serbian Chief of Police, Milorad Veljovic, told the newspaper.
“We really did everything in our power short of going to Sweden and stopping the robbery ourselves.”
A police source confirmed for TT that Swedish police had received a tip regarding the planned robbery from the Serbian police, but rejected the assumption that they had neglected the information.
According to the information provided, the robbery was due to take place a week earlier. At that time Swedish police were closely monitoring the robbers in an operation referred to as KKP 4.
The operation entailed monitoring a number of different cash depots and temporarily moving police helicopters from the police heliport at Myttinge on Värmdo to another location.
“But because nothing happened, the operation was called off. Then it happened anyway, only later on,” the source said.
Police helicopters at the Myttinge heliport were subsequently unable to respond when the robbery took place on Wednesday morning of last week because of fake bomb had been placed near the hangar.
On Sunday, Swedish police took a total of six people into custody for their suspected involvement the robbery.
The suspects include a 34-year-old from Norrtälje, a 38-year-old from Stockholm, a 36-year-old man from Enskede in southern Stockholm, a 31-year-old man from Hägersten and a 29-year-old man from Norsborg, south of Stockholm.
All are suspected of aggravated robbery for their role in the Hollywood-style robbery at the G4S cash depot in Västberga south of Stockholm early Wednesday morning.
A 21-year-old man from Bagarmossen has also been taken into custody on suspicions of being an accessory to grand robbery, according to documents submitted to the Södertorn District Court.
The 34-year-old suspect is a former student of Roslagen Helikopterflyg, a Swedish helicopter training academy in Norrtälje, north of Stockholm.
“He completed his education here around fifteen years ago, but he has never worked for us,” said head instructor Christer Öhlund to the TT news agency.
According to Öhlund, the 34-year-old only attained a private flying certificate. He does not have certification to fly as a professional pilot.
The man has had regular contact with the training academy, routinely hiring a helicopter for private flights. The last time he did so was in summer of this year.
According to flight instructor, the school was planning to hire the suspect as a photographer for the company, but the plans were never carried out.
Öhlund was shocked to discover that the man was being held on suspicions of involvement in the robbery.
“I don’t think he’s guilty. I can’t imagine that he could have done this. He’s just too nice and personable to have carried out such a thing,” he said.
Attorney Leif Silbersky is defending the 34-year-old and hinted at how his client was feeling following his arrest.
“A person never feels good when they are arrested and consider themselves to be completely innocent,” he said.
Interrogations have been held for the suspects, according to the National Police Board (Rikspolisstyrelsen).
The Swedish police remain tight-lipped regarding any additional information, and refuse to reveal whether the suspect knew one another before the robbery was carried out.
District prosecutor Leif Görts is due to announce on Wednesday at noon whether he plans to request that the suspects be remanded in custody.
http://www.thelocal.se/22338/20090928/