Sweden‘s Royal Family crown jewels have been stolen as cops chase suspects on a motorboat. Two royal crowns of King Karl IX and Queen Kristina, as well as a royal orb, were stolen from Strängnäs Cathedral this afternoon.
Police surrounded the city as they tried to chase down the thieves. Two men were seen jumping into a motorboat outside the cathedral. Police spokesperson Thomas Agnevik said: “I have talked to a person at the county administrative board that says that it is not possible to put an economic value on this, these are invaluable objects of national interest. We are looking for a small and open motorboat. We have some different information about how exactly the boat looked. We are now examining all the tips we receive.” He continued: “By boat you can reach Mälaren, Köping or Arboga in the west, or Västerås, Eskilstuna or Stockholm if you drive east. We direct our search in all these directions”.
One eyewitness, Tom Rowsell, who is getting married at the the cathedral described the dramatic scene. He 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 told them and they told us they had taken something from the Cathedral. I knew immediately they were burglars because of the way they were behaving. The girls said it was odd, in this small quiet town but the fact that the boat was waiting, it was obvious to me that they were burglars. I think it’s awful, it’s despicable that people would steal from a holy building and take something of historic and monetary value. I hope the police succeed in finding them.” This isn’t the first time the Swedish Royal jewels were stolen. Back in 2012, a man, then 19, admitted stealing 850,000 kronor (£102,000) worth of jewels from Princess Christina’s apartment near the Royal Palace across two months. He reportedly sold most of the jewels for 9,000 kronor to two drug dealers and also allegedly threw a tiara worth 350,00 kronor off a bridge in Stockholm.Photo Credit: Getty
