Prosecutors demand 10-year jail terms for Swedish helicopter heist

Sep 2, 2010, 16:29 GMT

Stockholm - Ten men charged with planning and conducting a daring helicopter heist at a cash depot in the Swedish capital Stockholm a year ago should receive maximum sentences, prosecutors said Thursday in their closing arguments.

Five of the men charged with aggravated robbery should be sentenced to 10 years each, while five men charged as accessories should be sentenced to between four and seven years each, they said.

A stolen helicopter had been flown to the roof of the G4S cash depot building on the southern outskirts of the capital early on September 23, 2009. The thieves used explosives in the pre-dawn raid to enter a storage room where cash was counted and sorted.

One of the defendants, whose DNA was found at the crime scene, has admitted to being in the storage room, but has rejected the charge of aggravated robbery even though he was carrying a weapon during the raid.

Two other men who were also in the storage room remain at large. The other nine defendants have rejected the charges.

The prosecutors said that the accessories placed a fake bomb at a police helicopter base, preventing officers from pursuing the thieves from the air and also used chains and so-called caltrops to prevent vehicles from approaching the depot building.

Most of the loot, 39 million kronor (5.3 million dollars), is still missing, police and prosecutors say.

The defence is to present its arguments next week at the trial, which is being held in the special security chamber of the Stockholm District Court.