A Trash Bin Is No Place for a Crown, and Yet...

Stolen crown jewels reportedly found atop bin in Sweden
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 6, 2019 9:55 AM CST
Sweden's Stolen Jewels Possibly Found in Trash
A discarded bicycle is spotted near the scene of a robbery at Sweden's Strangnas Cathedral on July 31, 2018.   (Pontus Stenberg/TT News Agency via AP)

When some of Sweden's royal jewels were stolen last July, a police official predicted they would be "recovered sooner or later, because there are very few people who are prepared to handle such items." Apparently, sooner. The trial of a man accused of stealing a bicycle and boat used as getaway vehicles in the daring daytime heist was interrupted Tuesday as a prosecutor revealed two crowns and an orb taken from Strangnas Cathedral on the edge of Lake Malaren had possibly been found atop a trash bin 75 miles away in the Stockholm suburb of Akersberga, reports the Local. A security guard reportedly made the discovery around 1am Tuesday. "Everything suggests that Charles IX's stolen funeral regalia have been found ... but police are working hard to get it 100% confirmed," officials say.

The unidentified 22-year-old suspect is the only person to be charged in the theft. He's admitted to stealing the getaway vehicles but denies any other involvement, despite the fact that prosecutors say his blood was at the scene. Witnesses described two men smashing glass cases holding the 17th-century crowns that adorned the heads of King Charles IX and his wife, Christina, at their burial, before the valuables were eventually exhumed. A royal orb was also taken in the haul valued at $7.1 million, per Deutsche Welle. If the items are found, it'll be a "deja vu" end to the case: In 2013, a crown and scepter from the funeral of King Johan III, stolen from nearby Vasteras, were discovered in roadside garbage bins following a tip. (A Saudi princess is missing $925,000 in jewels.)

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