Sixteen charged for brazen postal heist
Prosecutors on Friday indicted 16 people in Gothenburg District Court for their role in the audacious robbery of a postal depot near the city’s central train station in January 2008.
According to the indictment, the assailants made off with roughly 500,000 kronor ($64,000).
Those charged in the heist are between the ages of 22 and 33 and reside in the Stockholm area.
The robbery was carried out following a number of planning meetings held in Stockholm in the latter half of 2007 and led by one of the accused, a 33-year-old man.
The robbers struck at around 2am on January 22nd, and carried out a number of measures to keep police distracted as the thieves made their getaway.
Several armed men stormed into the post terminal and threatened the staff. At the same time, several cars were set on fire, effectively blocking Kruthusgatan, the only road to and from the terminal.
Police also found several suspicious packages throughout central Gothenburg which they thought might be bombs.
Large parts of the city were cordoned off, and around 120 people were evacuated from their apartments.
Several of those charged for the crime are also suspected for having planned and carried out other attacks against Gothenburg-area police in November 2007, two months prior to the robbery.
Among the attacks were a November 12th incident in which shots were fired at the entry of a police station in the suburb of Partille, as well as the shooting of several police helicopters at an airstrip in Säve in Gothenburg's Hisingen district the following day.
The attacks were meant to serve as diversions ahead of the post depot attack, which according to the thieves’ plans, was to be carried out in the early afternoon of November 13th.
However, something in the morning that day the group decided to change their plans, according to the indictment.
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According to the indictment, the assailants made off with roughly 500,000 kronor ($64,000).
Those charged in the heist are between the ages of 22 and 33 and reside in the Stockholm area.
The robbery was carried out following a number of planning meetings held in Stockholm in the latter half of 2007 and led by one of the accused, a 33-year-old man.
The robbers struck at around 2am on January 22nd, and carried out a number of measures to keep police distracted as the thieves made their getaway.
Several armed men stormed into the post terminal and threatened the staff. At the same time, several cars were set on fire, effectively blocking Kruthusgatan, the only road to and from the terminal.
Police also found several suspicious packages throughout central Gothenburg which they thought might be bombs.
Large parts of the city were cordoned off, and around 120 people were evacuated from their apartments.
Several of those charged for the crime are also suspected for having planned and carried out other attacks against Gothenburg-area police in November 2007, two months prior to the robbery.
Among the attacks were a November 12th incident in which shots were fired at the entry of a police station in the suburb of Partille, as well as the shooting of several police helicopters at an airstrip in Säve in Gothenburg's Hisingen district the following day.
The attacks were meant to serve as diversions ahead of the post depot attack, which according to the thieves’ plans, was to be carried out in the early afternoon of November 13th.
However, something in the morning that day the group decided to change their plans, according to the indictment.
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