STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Robbers toting automatic weapons crashed a tractor through the wall of a Swedish security company Thursday and made off with an unknown amount of cash, police said.
The spectacular heist at the Securitas compound in a Stockholm suburb triggered a bomb scare after the robbers left a suspicious bag inside the facility. Police safely removed the bag, but it was not clear whether it contained explosives.
At least three robbers used the tractor to crash through the steel gates of the compound in the suburb of Akalla, and then rammed it through a wall and into the loading station of the money depot, Securitas spokesman Ake Andersson said.
However, they were unable to enter the main vault, and sped off in a getaway car before police could arrive, spreading nails behind them to hinder any attempts to follow them.
She said money was scattered across the floor of the loading area, indicating the robbers had taken off with large sums of money, but it was unclear how much.
Securitas, the world's second-largest security company, provides armed money transports between its vaults and banks, including Sweden's central bank.
Andersson would not disclose how much money was kept at the vault. However, many Swedes receive their monthly paychecks on the 25th of each month, which meant Securitas was to transport extra large sums of money to cash machines around the capital.
(c) 2005 Associated Press
