Sweden arrests person over royal jewels heist

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A person has been arrested over the theft of priceless treasures from the Swedish royal regalia, including a jeweled crown, from a cathedral where they were on display, Swedish authorities said Thursday.

Sweden’s Prosecution Authority said the suspect was arrested a day earlier but that none of the regalia — two crowns and an orb used for the funerals of King Karl IX and Queen Kristina — had been recovered.

No further details were available.

It is believed two men stole the artifacts, dating back to 1611 and made for the royals’ funerals, from the Gothic-style Strangnas Cathedral, a red-brick church built between 1291 and 1340 west of the capital.

The items were stolen on July 31 from an alarmed display after the thieves had smashed the glass. They then fled either by motorboat or jet-ski via the vast system of lakes west of Stockholm.

The probe was headed by the Swedish police’s National Operations Department, local police, and Sweden’s National Unit against Organized Crime, an office specialized in combating organized, cross-border crime.

The theft has been logged at Interpol, which enables an international search.

The stolen artifacts are so-called funeral regalia, which are placed inside or on top of a coffin to symbolize a deceased royal’s identity and social ranking.

While some funeral regalia are kept in the cathedrals of Strangnas, Uppsala and Vasteras, Sweden’s crown jewels are in vaults under the Royal Castle in Stockholm.  /kga