In a scene straight out of a Hollywood film, two people stole several Swedish crown jewels on Tuesday night. The criminals reportedly used motorboat in a daring escape.
The stolen goods include two royal crowns of King Karl IX and Queen Kristina, as well as an orb, that was on public display at the Strängnäs Cathedral, in the southeastern city of Strängnäs.
The duo was seen fleeing the cathedral by motorboat by a witness, who said: "One of my friends saw two people running. I saw the boat just there, a white little boat, with a motor on the back. The two men hurriedly jumped on board. We contacted the police and they told us they had taken something from the Cathedral."
The police are on the lookout for the suspects and have begun a huge manhunt with helicopters and motorboats, as per Thomas Agnevik, a spokesman for the police. He said that the lost jewels were priceless, and it was not possible to put an economic value on them since they were of "national interest".
"It's 1-0 to them right now," he told Aftonbladet, a local evening daily. The deal of the cathedral, Christofer Lundgren, called it "a theft from Swedish society".
The stolen crown of Karl IX, who was the youngest son of King Gustav I, was made during his reign from 1604 until 1611. When he died in October 1611, his wife Queen Kristina became the Queen Regent, until her son took over two years later under the name King Gustav II Adolf.
This is the second incident of Swedish royal jewels being stolen, after a case in 2012 where a 19-year-old admitted to stealing several jewels from Princess Christina's apartment near the Royal Palace. His theft was valued at 850,000 kronor (Rs. 66,12,095). The jewels were never recovered after they were sold to two drug dealers and threw a tiara off a bridge in the capital of Stockholm.
