New footage of 'ruthless' subway robber

The pickpocket who stole an unconscious man’s valuables while the victim was lying unconscious on Stockholm subway tracks is suspected of having robbed another man according to newly released security video.

• Still no arrests over subway robbery: police (13 Sep 12)
• Man hit by train after robber leaves him to die (12 Sep 12)

"This is Sweden's most wanted man right now," said Dan Östman of the south-Stockholm police to the Aftonbladet newspaper.

Police released the new footage, filmed in late August, which shows the robbery of a man who was seemingly passed out on a bench at the Enskedegård metro station, located south of Stockholm on the green line.

The new footage features a man who looks very much like the man featured in security camera footage released earlier this week on the TV3 programme Efterlyst ('Wanted') in which a 38-year-old man was robbed after falling down on the tracks and left lying unconscious.

The victim featured on the footage broadcast on Efterlyst was then hit by an oncoming subway train, in a case which has left Swedes' aghast at the robber's calculated crime.

In the newly released footage, a person who appears to be the same thief is shown sifting through the pockets of another drunken man who is sitting at on a bench at a metro station.

While the victim sits with his head in his hands, apparently inebriated, the thief searches through his bags and pockets.

“We recognize this person. It seems to have been some sort of approach that he was using,” said Östman.

"What you should do if you see the person is call 112 and if you want to leave tips then call 114 14 and we will forward the information to the investigators."

According to Östman, police have received a number of tips after the airing of the incident in which the victim was hit by a train.

“We have 30 tips now that we’ve got from Efterlyst. It is mostly the public, people who have been affected in the same way, and who have probably seen this man in different places," Östman told the newspaper.

When asked whether the police believe the man will be caught soon, Östman remained positive.

“The longer we can get the pictures out the bigger our chances are,” he said.

The train-track robbery, in which the victim was left to be hit by an oncoming train, has been classidied as aggravated theft.

“We are classifying it as aggravated theft rather than robbery, as the latter implies that the perpetrator threatens or renders his victim in a state of powerlessness and we didn’t see anything like that. The person who was drunk had achieved that state of powerlessness himself," said Östman to TT.

That the perpetrator didn’t try to assist the helpless man on the tracks or call emergency services is not something he could be charged for.

“There is no law that says he has to take action,” said Östman to TT.

However, in the wake of the incident, which has also received media attention abroad, the Christian Democrats have renewed calls for Sweden to implement a good Samaritan law in hopes of preventing such incidents from occurring in the future.

"This is is what I would consider a textbook case where someone could be convicted for violating a good Samaritan law," Christian Democrat justice police spokesperson Caroline Szyber told the TT news agency.

TT/The Local/og
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