The report turned out to be valid but the robbery was averted as the gang elected to break off their heist. A couple of weeks later, however, an armed robbery did occur at the Hageby shopping centre in the town with several shots fired in the process.

The robbers made off with several bags seized from a security transport and no one has yet been detained over the incident.

Police in Östergötland now regret not having followed up on the reports. Police spokesperson Torbjörn Pettersson confirmed the sequence of events to the newspaper and explained that it came down to a judgement error by a duty officer.

The police have now analysed what went awry in their routines and have conducted a training exercise for all of their operators, including a comprehensive robbery exercise.