In a plot that could have come out of a heist movie, two men on Tuesday raided a Swedish cathedral and stole a set of 17th-century crown jewels, before fleeing the crime scene on a speedboat, according to police and Swedish news outlets.
The heist, in which the suspects took two crowns and a golden orb, happened around noon local time on Tuesday, at the Strängnäs Cathedral, located west of Sweden’s capital of Stockholm.
The crowns once belonged to King Karl IX and Queen Kristina, whose jewels are on display at the cathedral. The items had been displayed in a locked case equipped with an alarm, cathedral officials said in a statement.
“The alarm went off when the burglars smashed the security glass and stole the artifacts,” a cathedral spokeswoman told the Associated Press.
Police are still looking for the suspects as of Wednesday morning, the AP reported. Officers believe that the thieves used a network of nearby lakes to make their escape, adding that authorities have used boats and helicopters to search the area, according to The Guardian.
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