Swedish crowns still missing after suspected robbers flee using jet ski

Police cordon near the scene of a robbery at the Strangnas Cathedral, in Strangnas, Sweden. Picture: Pontus Stenberg/TT News Agency via AP

Police cordon near the scene of a robbery at the Strangnas Cathedral, in Strangnas, Sweden. Picture: Pontus Stenberg/TT News Agency via AP

Published Aug 2, 2018

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Stockholm - Two 17th-century royal funeral crowns and an orb stolen this week from Strangnas Cathedral, west of the capital Stockholm, were still missing, Swedish police said on Thursday.

The theft took place at around midday on Tuesday.

The stolen items were a funeral crown and an orb made for King Charles IX, who died in 1611, and a crown made for his second wife, Queen Kristina the Elder, who was buried in the cathedral after her death in 1625.

The regalia designated the deceased's royal status.

Police have continued to analyse tips and were also searching databases and other sources as part of the probe, police spokesman Stefan Dangardt told dpa.

Investigators were also interested in possible sightings of the two thieves believed to have fled the cathedral on two women's bicycles, and if anyone had seen the bicycles in the vicinity of the cathedral prior to the theft, he added.

The bicycles, possibly stolen, were found near the shore of Lake Malaren from where they fled either on a jet ski or an open motorboat.

The stolen regalia are considered priceless and part of the national heritage, the county board of Sodermanland said.

Strangnas Cathedral was completed in the 1330s and towers over the little town. Strangnas is one of 13 dioceses in the Lutheran Church of Sweden.

dpa

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