STOCKHOLM – A gang of thieves on Friday staged a remarkable break-in near the Swedish royal ******'s residence in Stockholm, smashing display cases at a historic 18th-century Chinese-style landmark and getting away with artifacts that police called potentially priceless.
The heist at the ornate Chinese Pavilion, a birthday gift from King Adolf Fredrik to Queen Lovisa Ulrika in 1753, took just six minutes, and occurred just after security guards had made their rounds at 2 a.m., police spokeswoman Diana Sundin said.
"The alarm went off just as the guards had ****** by," she said. Guards immediately returned to the scene, but the burglars had already vanished, she said.
The burglars are believed to have entered the building by smashing the glass on the pavilion's back door. Once inside, they shattered three display cases, she said, and made off with an unknown number of "old, beautiful Chinese objects."
