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Accused deny helicopter heist as trial opens

The ten men suspected of involvement in a spectacular cash depot heist have denied all charges as their high-profile trial opened amid huge media and public interest in Stockholm on Monday.

Accused deny helicopter heist as trial opens

Five of the men are suspected of aggravated robbery, while the five others face charges of abetting aggravated robbery in the dramatic September 23rd raid that saw the perpetrators enter the depot through the roof and escape in a helicopter.

Prosecutor Leif Görts opened proceedings in Stockholm District Court with a presentation of the charges a review of the audacious robbery.

The stolen helicopter landed on the roof of the G4S security firm depot in Västberga in south Stockholm. Three armed men smashed their way into the building through the atrium window on the roof.

The robbers then deployed explosives to blast open a series of doors and make their way in to the depot’s cash reserves.

After 20 to 25 minutes, the men loaded up the helicopter and disappeared. The first of the men and a section of the loot were deposited in the Draget district in the Norsborg suburb, before a second drop-off was made at Kaananbadet beach in the Bromma area. The abandoned helicopter was later found in Skavlöten to the north of Stockholm.

Only 56,000 kronor ($7,793) of the 39 million kronor stolen by the thieves has since been recovered. The trial of the suspects, aged 23 to 38, is scheduled to run for eighteen days.

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HELICOPTER

New witnesses found in helicopter heist case

Deputy prosecutor-general Kerstin Skarp has decided to re-open the preliminary investigation into the case of Alexander Eriksson, who was found guilty of piloting the chopper in the 2009 helicopter heist.

New witnesses found in helicopter heist case
Police footage from inside the G4S security depot in Västberga, south Stockholm.

“This is a very positive development,” Eriksson’s defense lawyer Ragnar von Bentzeen told daily Aftonbladet.

Three years ago, a stolen helicopter landed on the roof of the G4S security firm depot in Västberga in southern Stockholm and three armed men smashed their way into the building through the atrium window on the roof.

The robbers then deployed explosives to blast open a series of doors and make their way in to the depot’s cash reserves.

After 20 to 25 minutes, the men loaded up the helicopter and disappeared.

The first of the men and a section of the loot were deposited in the Draget district in the Norsborg suburb, before a second drop-off was made at Kaananbadet beach in the Bromma area.

The abandoned helicopter was later found in Skavlöten to the north of Stockholm.

Only 56,000 kronor ($7,793) of the reported 39 million kronor ($5.3 million dollars cash stolen by the thieves has since been recovered.

Eriksson denied his involvement in the heist from the very beginning, claiming to have been high on drugs at the time of the robbery but was subsequently found guilty and sentenced to 8 years in prison.

There is footage of Eriksson at 6.50 entering a McDonald’s eatery in Täby, a suburb of Stockholm.

Witness statements claimed to have heard and seen the helicopter around the landing site in Arninge just after 6am on the day of the heist.

But according to Norrtelje Tidning, new evidence suggests that the chopper didn’t touch down on the site until 7am – when the alleged pilot couldn’t have been in the air.

The prosecutor-general has decided to re-open the case and want to call six new witnesses, according to the paper.

“It is fairly unusual for these kinds of cases to be re-opened so there must be something of substance that they have uncovered,” Bentzeen told Aftonbladet.

According to the lawyer, his client is very pleased with the developments.

Prosecutors in Stockholm will now hear the new witnesses and decide if the case should be re-tried.

The Local/rm

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