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Two helicopter heist thieves still at large

Ten men caught after a helicopter heist at a cash depot belonging to security company G4S in southern Stockholm were sentenced on Monday, while two other known thieves remain unidentified and at large..

Two helicopter heist thieves still at large
Photo: Pontus Lundahl/Scanpix

Up until now, the identity and whereabouts of the two suspects remain a mystery to police and the prosecution.

“Otherwise, we would of course have taken them too,” district prosecutor Leif Görts told news agency TT.

Of the 39.16 million kronor ($5.33 million) stolen in the heist, only 100,000 kronor has been recovered in 500-kronor notes.

A handful of men have previously been detained in the case, but there was not enough evidence to prosecute them.

Ten men aged 23 to 38 are being prosecuted for the raid. At least twice as many are believed to have participated, but the police have been unable to arrest more and the involvement of others has not been proved.

Görts declined to comment on how many others had taken part in the heist. Five of the men who are detained will be prosecuted for aggravated theft and the other five for aiding and abetting.

“One can say that the five who were active in the acute phase will be prosecuted as perpetrators,” said Görts.

Among those facing charges include two who were in the helicopter, one of which was the pilot. Another person carried out the sabotage against police helicopters in Myttinge in Värmdö northeast of Stockholm, while two were involved in blocking the streets and impeding accessibility to the police around the cash depot.

According to the prosecution, it will present evidence in the form of eyewitness accounts, surveillance videos, telephone tapping and DNA sufficient for convictions. In addition, there is evidence in both Swedish and Serbian telecommunications materials.

“With regard to the evidence, we have taken the view that there should be enough for a conviction,” said prosecutor Björn Frithiof.

Görts would not comment on reports that the robbers had help from insiders inside the depot. He noted that the robbery was very unusual, not least in view of the approach.

“It was well planned and well implemented,” said Görts.

The main planning for the crime took place in Sweden. However, police got wind of the plans from Serbian police a month before the robbery occurred. A Swedish investigation was initiated, primarily to try to prevent the crime.

The date the robbery had been planned for passed, so police helicopters, which had been moved to a safe area, returned to Myttinge.

The man previously known as Stockholm’s gangster king, who now lives in Serbia, was involved in recruiting a pilot in Serbia. The pilot received an advance of 190,000 kronor, but later backed out. The issue of the pilot was resolved on home turf.

Lawyer Leif Silbersky represents a 35-year-old man who is accused of having stolen the helicopter used in the robbery, planning the travel route using GPS and flying the helicopter during the robbery, but the man denies the crime.

“My opinion is that the evidence does not have the strength and quality that the prosecution claims,” said Silbersky. “The prosecution has invested a lot in quantity instead of quality as I might see it.”

He added, “There is nothing pointing to my client, no one who has said he was involved. He is a helicopter pilot during the day, but he is not trained to fly at night.”

According to Görts, the pilot was the only one who flew the helicopter, denying earlier reports that they had changed pilots.

“He is the one who misappropriated the helicopter and knows how to fly it,” said Görts. “We have evidence that it is he who showed up at McDonald’s in Täby 30 minutes after the helicopter had been dumped. I have difficulty seeing what other role he could have had – he is the pilot.”

Three masked, armed men were dropped onto the roof of the banknote storage facility by a helicopter in the early hours of September 23rd. The men then smashed a window and blasted their way through the building using explosives before exiting the building several minutes later with sacks

of cash.

The robbers carried out the raid in front of police and 21 workers present

in the centre. The police were hindered because a bag marked with the word “bomb” had been previously placed at the police helicopter base.

The thieves’ helicopter, which was stolen shortly before the raid, was

recovered undamaged several hours later north of Stockholm.

The trial will take place over 18 days in Stockholm district court’s security hall.

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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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