Robbers escaped on motorboat after stealing priceless 17th Century crown jewels
ADVERTISEMENTSwedish police are on the hunt for two suspects who stole a collection of priceless crown jewels from a cathedral located west of Stockholm, the police department confirmed in a statement yesterday.
Strangnas Cathedral, where the jewels were located, said in a statement that two crowns belonging to 17th Century monarchs Karl IX and his wife Kristina, and a royal orb were taken from locked and alarm-activated displays that were open to visitors.
The stolen artifacts can be seen below:
According to police, the suspects made their getaway in a motorboat moored near the cathedral. Officers pursued the robbers, but no arrests have yet been made.
In a Facebook group for those local to the Strangnas municipality, discussion about the heist ranged from suitable punishments for the thieves, to who the culprits could be.
"Execution! That's the only possible punishment," Anette Lappen Fogelberg Agren said in a comment.
Fellow user Viktor Steneskog speculated on the culprits: "Not Swedish of course. Probably a commission from outside, maybe another state?"
Over on Twitter, Swede Rickard Soderberg expressed anger at the theft.
"Next to violence against humans and animals, there are few things that make me so furious as when cultural history is destroyed," he wrote.