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Photo: Police
Staff were forced to go downstairs while thieves opened safes.
The 12-year-old boy will buy cheese bows in Ica.
Then the thieves put the knife to his back and throw him to the ground.
– Deciding to act in this way with a child means that it is an aggravated robbery, says the prosecutor Johan Fröjelin.
On Friday, the trial began in the Alingsås District Court against two men from a league suspected of specializing in shoplifting, especially in western Götaland for the past two years.
The goal of the league has always been to access store safes. In all, they must have found about a million crowns for a score of robberies.
– Either they broke the safe on the spot or they took it away, says prosecutor Johan Fröjelin.
A 25-year-old man and a 23-year-old man are charged, while two men are arrested in their absence. According to Fröjelin, there are reasons to suspect that they are hiding abroad.
Photo: Police
One of the alleged thieves.
Seized necklace
The police have seized 100,000 SEK in cash and a necklace valued at the same amount.
During the robberies, the store employees have been forced to fall to the ground on several occasions. A security guard is said to have been threatened with an ax, something Borås Tidning has reported.
During a robbery in Vårgårda in June 2019, a twelve-year-old boy ended up in the middle of the drama. He had gone to the store with a friend to buy a bag of cheesecakes shortly before closing. The thieves were already inside the store.
Photo: Police
The twelve-year-old boy is kidnapped under threat of a knife.
12 years threatened
While the friend made it out, the 12-year-old stayed.
– They take him to a warehouse with a large knife pointed at him. There he is forced to lie down for a long time with his face down on the floor. Choosing to act in this way with a child means that it is aggravated robbery, says Johan Fröjelin.
During police questioning, the 12-year-old talks about the incident:
– I was scared and wanted to go home.
Social media
The defendants deny both crimes.
The perpetrators are masked on surveillance cameras. But according to the prosecutor, there is other evidence, including on social media, that links men to crimes.
– We have so many pieces of the puzzle that the image should be ready for court, says Johan Fröjelin.
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