Thieves in Sweden walked into a small town’s medieval cathedral in broad daylight. They made off with priceless crown jewels, escaping by speedboat, police said earlier today.
Around noon on Tuesday, the two men vanished after the heist into a vast patchwork of lakes around Strangnas. That town lies about 37 miles west of Stockholm, the capital.
The thieves snatched two gold crowns and an orb made for King Karl IX and Queen Kristina. One of the crowns is encrusted with precious stones. The stolen items, which date back to the early 1600s, were on display at an exhibition in the cathedral. Visitors were inside at the time.
“The alarm went off when the burglars smashed the security glass and stole the artifacts,” Catharina Frojd, a spokeswoman for the 14th-century Strangnas cathedral, says.
The church wrote on its website that the stolen items were kept “in accordance with the prevailing safety regulations in locked and alarmed displays in the cathedral.” It gave no further details.
Police sent out a helicopter and boat to hunt for the thieves but found nothing. Authorities say nobody was hurt in the robbery.
Tom Rowell, a visitor who was eating lunch outside, says he saw two men running from the cathedral toward a small jetty where a motorboat was moored. They “jumped on board and it sped off,” Rowell says, adding that they “appeared non-Nordic.” He didn’t explain further.
The jewels are of great historic and cultural value. But police doubt whether the burglary will bring the perpetrators financial gain. The stolen items are so unique and famous that they will be “impossible to sell,” says Swedish police representative Maria Ellior.
(AP Photo: A police cordon marks off the scene of the robbery at the Strangnas Cathedral in Sweden on Tuesday, July 31, 2018.)
