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CASH DEPOT ROBBERY

HELICOPTER

Swedish police ‘knew of helicopter heist plans’

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.

Swedish police 'knew of helicopter heist plans'

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.

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MUSEUM

German police arrest fugitive twin over Dresden museum heist

German police said Tuesday they have arrested one of two fugitive twin brothers from the so-called Remmo clan wanted over their suspected role in snatching priceless jewels from a museum in the city of Dresden.

German police arrest fugitive twin over Dresden museum heist
Archive photo from April 2019 shows the Jewellery Room of the Green Vault. Photo: DPA

The 21-year-old suspect was detained in Berlin on Monday evening over what local media have dubbed one of the biggest museum heists in modern history, a spokesman for the police in the eastern city of Dresden said.

The twins had eluded German authorities when they carried out raids last month and arrested three members of the Remmo clan, a family of Arab origin notorious for its ties to organised crime.

Police then named them as 21-year-old Abdul Majed Remmo and Mohammed Remmo.

All five suspects are accused of “serious gang robbery and two counts of arson,” Dresden prosecutors said.

Police did not immediately name the arrested twin. His brother remains on the run.

The robbers launched their brazen raid lasting eight minutes on the Green Vault museum in Dresden's Royal Palace on November 25th, 2019.

READ ALSO: Everything you need to know about the Dresden museum heist

Having caused a partial power cut and broken in through a window, they snatched priceless 18th-century jewellery and other valuables from the collection of the Saxon ruler August the Strong.

Items stolen included a sword whose hilt is encrusted with nine large and 770 smaller diamonds, and a shoulderpiece which contains the famous 49-carat Dresden white diamond, Dresden's Royal Palace said.

The Remmos were previously implicated in another stunning museum robbery in the heart of Berlin in which a 100-kilogramme gold coin was stolen.

Investigators last year targeted the family with the seizure of 77 properties worth a total of €9.3 million, charging that they were purchased with the proceeds of various crimes, including a 2014 bank robbery.

READ ALSO: €1 million gold coin stolen from iconic Berlin museum

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