The Supercriminals of Sweden

If you need another reason to appreciate America, consider that our criminals are, as a general rule, rather dull and dumb. That seems preferable to Sweden where the supercriminals are wickedly smart and exhibit an excess of panache .

STOCKHOLM — With cinematic flourish, the masked robbers dropped from a helicopter onto the roof of a Swedish cash depot before dawn, broke into the building through a glass pyramid, set off explosions to get to the millions inside and escaped by hoisting themselves and their haul back up on rope lines.

All in 20 minutes, and all while Stockholm police were grounded by a fake bomb planted outside their own helicopter hangar.
Sweden has had its share of high-profile heists against cash storage facilities, post offices and armored cars in recent years, but police said Wednesday’s commando-style robbery was the first to use a helicopter.

“There are about 100 hardcore criminals in this country who have specialized in this type of serious robbery,” said Jerzy Sarnecki, professor in criminology at Stockholm University. “They are definitely no amateurs.”

He said every successful heist inspires others to follow suit, which explains why they have become relatively frequent in Sweden.
“When you have a group of people doing these things, others are inspired by them,” Sarnecki said.

One hundred hardcore supercriminals constantly attempting to top each other sounds like it would make a great movie if directed by Michael Mann or Stephen Sonderberg. But considering that it’s happening for real in a small country (Sweden has roughly the same population as New York City), I’m sure it can make daily life a bit unnerving.