Two armoured military vehicles have disappeared from one of the Swedish Armed Forces' warehouses in Enköping, national broadcaster SVT reported. A national alarm has been issued to find them.
Both of the hijacked trucks are Terrängbil 16s, also known as Galten (“Boar”), and are considered state-of-the-art. The four-wheel drive vehicle is mainly used to transport troops. At SEK 2 million ($210,000) apiece, the vehicles can also be equipped with several types of assault weapons and a grenade launcher. No ammunition, explosives or any weapons were reportedly kept in the trucks at the time of the theft.
“This is serious and unusual, to steal this type of vehicle”, Defence press secretary Jesper Tengroth told SVT.
According to the Armed Forces, the theft must have happened sometime between 4-5 February.
“A foreign power can benefit from them if there is sensitive equipment. Otherwise, they can be used, for instance, in robberies. These are armoured vehicles and there are few weapons that can stop them,” writer and military expert Lars Wilderäng told SVT.
Due to the national alert, the police and all other authorities have been informed of the incident, which has been classified as gross theft.
“These are very valuable vehicles that the Armed Forces want back. A national alarm is like a priority call that goes out to all police regions and other authorities, such as customs,” police spokesman Jonas Eronen explained.
Following the national alert, one of the vehicles was found in the residential area of Tillberga outside the city of Västerås. No arrests have been made so far.
Stulna militärfordonet återfanns utanför Västerås #svtnyheter https://t.co/HzLSr8MOLj
— SVT Nyheter (@svtnyheter) February 6, 2020
The regiment in Enköping is a classified as a protected object, which means that unauthorised persons are not permitted to enter or photograph the area. The regiment includes, among others, a psy-ops unit that works with psychological operations.
According to the Armed Forces, unspecified extra protective measures have also been taken after the theft.
In November 2019, it was revealed that a cache of guns and and ammunition had been stolen from a key government building in Stockholm, where Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven's office is located. All in all, six Glock 17 semi-automatic pistols and 300 cartridges were reported missing.
