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CASH DEPOT ROBBERY

HELICOPTER

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.

Several arrests made in helicopter heist probe

“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.

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FINANCE

Is Denmark’s government about to send you an enormous cheque?

Several of Denmark's political parties want to release part or all of Danish residents''frozen holiday money' ahead of the summer break, meaning a cheque of up to 24,500 kroner for someone earning 350,000 kroner a year. And some want to go even further and give out 'helicopter money'.

Is Denmark's government about to send you an enormous cheque?
The government wants to put money in the hands of citizens. Photo: Bax Lindhardt/SP/Ritzau Scanpix
The Red Green Alliance is pushing for the government to mail out 10,000 kroner (€1,341) tax-free cheques to all earning less than 32,000 kroner (€4,292) a month. 
 
The political parties are set later this week to begin negotiating the so-called 'summer package', a stimulus package designed to encourage people in Denmark to spend more money in local businesses, hotels and cultural institutions during their summer staycations. 
 
“There is not much you can say against this, and that is why it is an incredibly important part of our deliberations,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told DR on Tuesday evening. .
 
“We think it is natural that when we discuss the end of the aid packages, that we also discuss the long-term economy. For example, it could also be holiday money.” 
 
The 100bn kroner in 'frozen holiday money' exists because Denmark has changed the way people build up holiday allowances as they work. Under the old scheme, you built up the allowance over a year and could only take it after the following May. Under the new one, you earn 2.08 days of holiday a month, which can be used immediately. 
 
Because people in Denmark would have earned double holiday money during the transition between the two systems, the government decided to only let them access the so-called 'frozen money' on retirement. 
 
 
As well as seeing the sense of releasing the holiday money, Frederiksen on Tuesday said she also understood some of the advantages of 'helicopter money' payments, which can channel money to those most likely to spend it. 
 
“That's something I have a great deal of sympathy for, and I can see that many economists support helicopter money,” she said, referring to the Red Green Alliance's proposal.
 
“It is reminiscent of the discussion we are having right now on holiday money. But we are going to be the boring party and point out that there is an economy we need to take care of on the other side of the crisis as well.” 
 
The government hopes to carry out political discussions over the summer package with other parties at the end of this week. 
 
The Danish People's Party, the Conservative Party, the New Right, and the Liberal Alliance are pushing to have the holiday money paid out ahead of the summer holiday as part of a stimulus package. 
 
The Confederation of Danish Employers and the Danish Trade Union Confederation also believe that the holiday money should be paid out.
 

And even Torben M. Andersen, the Aarhus University economics professor who chairs the government's economics expert group, supports the idea.  
 
“It will trigger such large payments to the citizen that it can probably do the work and get enough demand and consumption started in a first round of economic recovery,” he told the Politiken newspaper. 
 
 
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