Daring high-speed heist like a thriller

Sweden’s postal service was puzzled when packages of electronics disappeared from its trucks on a road northeast of the country’s second-largest city.

PostNord head of security Alexis Larsson says the service mounted concealed cameras inside the back of a postal truck in September to crack the thefts. The stolen items — mostly laptops, computers and smartphones — were estimated to be worth 2.5 million kronor (about $560,000).

The cameras provided a live feed of the PortNord truck. That’s how Larsson was able to watch as two men leapt on to the moving truck from the hood of a car travelling behind it, entered the cargo area and rummaged through the load.

The truck was going 80km/h when the thieves boarded it, he said.

The surveillance idea came about after PostNord noticed valuables vanishing from trucks travelling between Stockholm and Goteborg. The vehicles’ padlocks had been cut and removed, leading Larsson and his team to conclude the thefts must have happened while the trucks were in transit.

After the camera caught the daring duo, police arrested four men — all non-Swedes aged 30 to 45 — during an operation involving unmarked police cars.

The men are suspected of being part of an international gang.

“This is a modus operandi that has been seen elsewhere in Europe, but it has been hard to prove,” said Larsson, a former military officer.