High stakes
Is The Helicopter Heist based on a true story? Swedish robbery explained
The heist led to an international manhunt
THE Helicopter Heist is a Swedish Netflix series which is based on a shocking real-life robbery.
In 2009, a gang of thieves flew a helicopter onto the roof of a cash depot in southern Stockholm and made off with the equivalent of £3.9million.
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A meticulously-planned crime
The robbery took place at 5am on September 23, 2009.
The thieves stole a Bell 206 helicopter and piloted it to a G4S cash service building in Västberga, Stockholm.
Alexander Erikkson landed the helicopter on the depot’s roof, leaving Safa Kadhum and three others to break through the glass pyramid on the roof of the building.
When the gang gained access to the vault, they used small bombs to open security doors inside.
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They packed the helicopter full with sacks of cash before flying away to safety.
Attempts by the police to intervene were thwarted by the gang’s meticulous planning.
They had planted decoy bombs at a nearby police air base, forcing the authorities to ground all of their helicopters.
The police’s on-road vehicles were prevented from catching the gang too, because caltrops, hidden on the road by the robbers, slashed their tires.
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By 8:15am, the robbers had escaped and their abandoned helicopter was discovered in a field outside the Swedish capital.
An international manhunt
After the robbery, Kadhum fled to the Dominican Republic but he was arrested by local law enforcement at the Swedish government’s request.
Unbeknownst to him, DNA traces had been found at the scene which matched previous records belonging to the authorities.
Kadhum had robbed the Swedish National Gallery in 2000 and was given a two-year-prison sentence for stealing two Renoir paintings and one Rembrandt painting.
Erikkson was arrested too, after being caught in the Canary Islands by a special operations unit of the Swedish police.
It was later revealed that the Swedish police had been tipped off about the robbery almost a month before it took place, by the Serbian government.
However, the authorities had been slow to act on the information.
All of the conspirators were sent to prison, but Kadhum was the only one to plead guilty.
He alleged that he felt pressured to take part in the scheme by one of his creditors, to whom he was in debt.
Despite the efforts of the police, none of the money stolen by the thieves was recovered.
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The Helicopter Heist
The Helicopter Heist is a Netflix series which dramatises the shocking robbery of the Västberga cash depot.
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Rising Swedish star Erik Svedberg-Zelman plays the gang’s pilot Alexander Erikkson (who is named Axel on the show) and Mahmut Suvakci plays Kadhum (who is named Rami on the show).
The nail-biting series is available to stream now.
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