The crime began in the early morning hours of September 9, 2009, with the daring robbery of a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter from a heliport hangar north of Stockholm. At 5.15 am, members of the gang flew the stolen helicopter over the roof of a cash depot in Västberga, south of Stockholm. The staff at the national railroad administration building across the street watched the entire crime unfold and it was also documented by a closed-circuit TV camera.
The rooftop thieves smashed the reinforced skylight with a sledgehammer, rappelled down into the cash holding area, and blasted their way into the cash safes inside the depot. They then begin to lift out sacks of the cash by rope. The depot held as much as $146 million and it is believed the thieves took over $5 million. The entire time, 20 depot guards and staff were communicating with police from within their locked rooms.
Only a few minutes later some police were on the scene, but many law enforcement vehicles were thwarted by small spiked objects the thieves had scattered on the roads leading to the depot. The short delay was all that was necessary to buy time for the gang’s helicopter to make its getaway.
Police helicopter pilots were scrambled but they couldn’t get to their craft because a suspected bomb was found in front of the helicopter hanger. Only later was the bomb discovered to be a fake. It was planted by the criminals, of course.
The gang worked quickly, taking full advantage of the few minutes they now had. Bags of cash were loaded into the helicopter, which lifted off cleanly. The thieves – and the cash – seemed to disappear. The chopper was found later abandoned in a field.
The police worked quickly. By 6:00 that evening, two men had already been apprehended. And in the days to follow, seven of the criminals were convicted and sent to jail. This helped to alleviate some of the embarrassment the authorities had suffered, which was compounded not only by the multiple delays and missteps, but by the fact that the Swedish police had been tipped off that a helicopter heist was being planned in the area (the police had been watching the wrong depot).
One thing was not retrieved – the cash. Ironically, if the crime were committed in Sweden today, the thieves would have come out empty-handed, because the country has become largely cashless, with 98% of the transactions being done electronically or with credit and debit cards. Half of its banks don’t even hold cash or have ATMs.
A movie is slated to be made of the Västberga heist. People have a grudging respect for cunning criminals. Jesus himself did, as he shows in the Parable of the Unjust Steward (Luke 16:1-13). Jesus did not condone stealing but he did call us to admire the man’s audacity in taking care of himself. Are you willing to be just as audacious in seizing the Kingdom of God?
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Sources used for this illustration :
“Helicopter robbery – how it happened,” by Peter Vinthagen Simpson, September 24, 2009; < https://www.thelocal.se/20090924/22260 >.
“ Cashing Out,” by Nathan Heller, The New Yorker magazine, October 10, 2016, page 48.
Wikipedia: “Västberga helicopter robbery,” < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A4stberga_helicopter_robbery >.
“Gang use helicopter in Hollywood-style raid on Swedish cash depot,” < https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/23/swedish-cash-depot-helicopter-raid >.
“Solving the great Swedish helicopter robbery — SmartDNA could have made a difference,” < http://www.adnas.com/Blog/solving-great-swedish-helicopter-robbery-smartdna-could-have-made-difference-police-official-sa > (dead link as of December 30, 2016).