Group of Bandits Creates Their Own Stimulus Package

Some people are not just going to sit around and wait for world economies to recover on their own.  They're not going to wait and see if the government has a bail out package for them. They're going to do something about it.  This proved to be the case just outside of the Swedish capitol city of Stockholm in the early morning, pre-dawn hours of Wednesday September 24^th, when a group of bandits broke into and robbed a cash storage depot of a yet undetermined or undisclosed amount of monies.  The facility stores and processes millions in cash, delivering funds to financial institutions and atms throughout the capitol region.

The heist itself would have looked at home on a Hollywood move set or a military training facility.  Authorities and witnesses claim that there were at least ten different masked and heavily armed individuals involved.  The robbers landed a helicopter on the roof of the depository where several of the culprits gained entry to the building by way of smashing a glass, rooftop window.  After gaining entry several explosions were heard from the interior of the building.  Shortly thereafter the robbers were seen exiting the building the same way they went in, and loading sacks of cash into the chopper.  The helicopter then took off into the distance.  It was later recovered by authorities cleverly placed behind a stand of trees in a field just fifteen miles north of the city.  It is believed that the helicopter may have been stolen from a nearby aviation school, but that has not yet been confirmed.

The entire operation lasted no more than twenty minutes from start to finish.  Police officials responded to the scene within minutes but were left standing by powerless to stop the heist.  The thieves had placed spikes in the roads approaching the depository, thwarting authorities' efforts as they responded.  The first police that did arrive at the scene were ordered to stand down and wait for a special tactical, commando type unit to arrive, that was better equipped to deal with the situation.  When the authorities finally did gain access to the depository, the thieves had already been gone for quite some time.  A police helicopter stood by motionless unable to assist, as the suspects had apparently planted explosives around the poorly guarded hangar where it is stored.  It was later learned that the explosives were a hoax. 

It was rumored that banks and atms would be left short on cash as a result of the robbery, but those rumors were dispelled by Alexander Westrell a spokesman for the British company “G4S” that operates the facility; “the night shift went on last night as usual and managed to provide ninety-nine percent of all the atms with money”.

Fortunately no one was injured during the brazen robbery.  There were some employees of the depository that were substantially shaken up.  G4S has announced that they are offering a substantial reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved, as well as for the recovery of the stolen money.

Swedish authorities have stated that they were in fact holding two persons of interest, but that the individuals had not yet been declared  suspects in the crime.  The police are facing severe criticism and embarrassment for their inability to foil the caper, as Sweden has been the scene of far too many similar high profile crimes in recent years, ranging from cash depositories, to post offices and armored cars.  This is the first time that a helicopter was used in a heist, but not the first time that the authorities have had to deal with this type of sabotage.  Police throughout the country and its borders have been placed on the highest level of alert, in hopes of catching the persons that are responsible for this black mark on their reputation.