Securitas Hit Again in Sweden

Aug. 29, 2005
Robbers in Sweden use explosives to break into armored car in heist

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Masked gunmen used explosives Monday to break into an armored car carrying cash before setting several cars ablaze on a busy highway south of Stockholm, police said.

No one was injured in the heist, the second in less than week involving the company Securitas, near the Swedish capital.

Armed with automatic weapons, the three robbers forced guards out of the car before detonating explosives to enter the vehicle, police said. They escaped with an unknown amount of cash after setting fire to several cars, blocking attempts to pursue them. One suspect was later caught, police spokesman Lennart Sjostrand said.

The incident caused traffic chaos on the E4 highway, one of the main arteries into Stockholm. The robbers left a bag marked "bomb" on a nearby road, and explosives experts were called in to investigate.

Securitas was also the target of a robbery on Thursday, when robbers crashed a tractor into a cash depot outside Stockholm, fleeing with an undisclosed amount of money.

(c) 2005 Associated Press