<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Thursday,  October 31 , 2024

Linkedin Pinterest
News / Nation & World

Thieves steal Sweden’s crown jewels, escape in a speedboat

Two crowns, one golden orb taken from display case inside cathedral

By Rick Noack, The Washington Post
Published: August 1, 2018, 10:24pm
2 Photos
A police cordon is seen near the scene of a robbery at the Strangnas Cathedral, in Strangnas, Sweden.
A police cordon is seen near the scene of a robbery at the Strangnas Cathedral, in Strangnas, Sweden. pontus stengerg/TT News Agency Photo Gallery

STOCKHOLM –Sweden’s royal family still regularly captures Europe’s attention with glamour, gossip — and the shiny crown jewels that are put on public display whenever the occasion merits it.

That particular part of the century-old tradition will become much more difficult now that at least some of the priceless Swedish crown jewels are no longer in the hands of the royal family. Around noon on Tuesday, two thieves stole a 17th-century orb and two golden crowns from a cathedral near Stockholm where they had been on display in a glass box, before escaping by speedboat into the Malaren lake, which spans 74 miles and is filled with hundreds of small islands.

A spokeswoman for the cathedral said Wednesday that an alarm went off after the two men accessed the jewels and that security precautions were in accordance with strict guidelines.

Even though the royal family appears to have insurance covering the jewels, officials stressed that their value could hardly be measured or replaced. “It is not possible to put an economic value on this. It is invaluable items of national interest,” police spokesman Thomas Agnevik told Swedish media.

According to witnesses, the two men used women’s bikes to race toward a motorboat near the bay by the cathedral, as stunned visitors watched the drama unfold.

“The two men hurriedly jumped on board, and it sped off,” visitor Tom Rowell told The Associated Press.

The subsequent manhunt — with one helicopter and multiple boats — has not yielded any arrests, and authorities appear to have few indications about where the thieves may have escaped.

Jewel heists, often a popular subject for movies, remain a big business, with France the undisputed capital after a string of daring operations, including one carried out by an organized-crime group from the Balkans that also used a speedboat to escape after robbing a jewelry store in St. Tropez in southern France.

Loading...