Seven arrested for brutal Gothenburg diesel theft

Seven men have been arrested on suspicion of aggravated robbery and weapons crimes after a truck driver was beaten and robbed of 450 litres of diesel fuel at a rest area north of Gothenburg.

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“No weapons have been found as of yet,” said police spokesperson Teresia Lagnefors to news agency TT.

The truck driver had been travelling south on the E6 motorway on Sunday evening at around 9pm when he stopped off at the rest area to use the bathroom, according to local Göteborgsposten (GP) daily.

“He was then approached by a number of men and three women who threatened him with a gun. They hit him over the head and siphoned off diesel from his vehicle into cans,” said Sven Persson of the police told GP.

The shaken truck driver managed to reach his vehicle and drive off. He stopped off at the next major service station and called the police.

“We sent patrols to the location where they discovered a number of people of the right description in possession of cans of diesel,” Persson said.

Seven men aged between 25 and 43-years-old were brought in for questioning on suspicion of aggravated robbery and six have now been officially arrested, while one is in hospital.

According to the police they found several cans containing diesel at the rest area, where there were also several women and children present.

“We have been told that they have been staying in the area, there were several mobile homes there,” said Sara Nyqvist of the local police to the Expressen daily.

According to a photographer on the scene, the situation became heated when the police officers arrived.

“Overall it was a large group of people and those who remained were family and friends of those arrested. It was an unsettled atmosphere with people shouting and gesticulating,” said photographer Björn Andersson to Expressen.

According to the paper, several police patrols were present and a police helicopter circled the area during the arrest.

The truck driver reportedly got away with minor injuries and didn’t need to seek medical attention after the incident.

The Local/rm
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