Several arrests made in helicopter heist probe

Several people were arrested on Sunday afternoon for their suspected involvement in last week’s spectacular helicopter robbery of a cash depot south of Stockholm.

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“This is the fruit of some solid criminal investigative work by police,” National Criminal Investigation Department (Rikskriminalpolisen) spokesperson Arne Andersson told the TT news agency.

He confirmed that several people were arrested in a number of raids carried out in the Stockholm area on Sunday morning.

Those detained are suspected of aggravated robbery and being an accomplice to aggravated robbery.

“The arrests were uneventful. They were taken in by our national task force,” said Andersson.

Andersson wouldn’t rule out that more arrests might be on the way.

“We’ll see, but I don’t see that happening for the time being,” he said.

The theft of the G4S cash depot in Västberga south of Stockholm early Wednesday morning will go down in the annals of Swedish criminal history.

After having sabotaged the police’s helicopters, the robbers broke into the building by lowering themselves to the roof from a stolen helicopter. They then hoisted up an undisclosed sum of cash before escaping again in the helicopter.

In an usual move for Sweden, G4S has offered a reward of 7 million kronor ($1 million) to anyone who provides information which leads to arrests or an indictment, or which contributes to the recovery of the money.

According to Andersson, however, Sunday’s arrests did not come from acting upon a tip, bur from old-fashioned police work.

Attorney Leif Silbersky has been appointed to defend one of the men arrested on Sunday.

“He asked to have me as his lawyer. I’ve met him and we’ve had a long set of negotiations. Now I’m waiting for the police to interrogate my client,” Silbersky told TT.

According to Silbersky, his client is a Swedish citizen and he denies any involvement in the helicopter robbery.

According to the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper, Silbersky’s client is one of 552 people registered with the Swedish Transport Agency (Transportstyrelsen) as having a licence to operate a helicopter and is s resident of the Roslagen region north of Stockholm.

The helicopter which was used in the heist was stolen from a Roslagens helikopterflyg AB, a helicopter training company based in the region. One of the owners of the company said that the theft would have required familiarity with the area.

In August of this year, the 34-year-old suspect was convicted by the Stockholm District Court for a number of drug-related crimes. He confessed and was fined the equivalent of 110 days’ pay.