Thief admits part in heist of €6m relics found in bin

THE main suspect in the theft of royal funeral artefacts from a Swedish cathedral confessed yesterday to stealing them after his DNA was found on the items that were pulled out last week from a bin north of Stockholm.

Swedish broadcaster SVT, reporting from a Stockholm court, quoted the 22-yearold Swede as saying he cut himself when taking the two crowns and an orb from a display at the Strangnas Cathedral on July 31.

Police say blood on two of the items, found on February 5, matched his DNA, but they have no clue as to why the jewels turned up when they did.

“I am the one who committed the theft,” the defendant, who has not been publicly identified, said on the last day of the trial. The heist made international headlines because the thieves got away from the 13th century church on stolen bikes and then fled by motorboat via the system of lakes west of Stockholm.

The items from 1611 that once belonged to King Karl IX and Queen Kristina are estimated to be worth 65 million kronor (€6m). They are funeral regalia, which are placed inside or on top of a coffin to symbolise a deceased royal’s identity and ranking.

Prosecutor Isabelle Bjursten has asked that the suspect, who reportedly intended to sell the items, get six years in prison. He has remained silent as to who helped him but two more men have been detained in the case. One is suspected of being involved in the return of the precious regalia, which were found in a bin that was placed on top of a car.

The thieves fled on stolen bikes and then in a motor boat