The Västberga helicopter robbery occurred on 23 September 2009 at 05:15 CET when a G4S cash service depot was robbed in Västberga in southern Stockholm, Sweden. The robbers used a stolen Bell 206 Jet Ranger as transport and landed on the rooftop of the G4S building. The police were unable to use their own helicopters to pursue the robbers since decoy bombs had been placed close to them. A 7-million-Swedish-krona reward was announced the following day for anyone with information that could lead to the arrest of the robbers and/or the return of the stolen goods. This was the first robbery involving a helicopter in Swedish history.

Events of September 23

Subsequent events

Swedish police arrested six male suspects in connection with the robbery. They were listed as being aged 21 to 36, but were otherwise unidentified in accordance with Swedish privacy laws. The Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dačić claimed that former members of the BIA Red Berets took part in the robbery. One month prior to the robbery, Serbian police informed the Swedish embassy in Belgrade that a criminal group was preparing a robbery in Stockholm, but Swedish authorities apparently failed to act effectively on this information. One out of the seven sentenced men was from Serbia.

Arrests

Swedish police quickly identified and arrested the suspects. Two days after the robbery, Safa Kadhum flew to the Dominican Republic where he was arrested by local law enforcement at the Swedish government's request. Swedish police immediately chartered a private plane to bring him back to Sweden. Alexander Eriksson instead flew to the Canary Islands. He was met at the airport by a special operations unit of the Swedish police. The police identified Goran Bojovic as the one who led the robbery.

Sentences

Seven men were sentenced to prison terms in October 2010 for their participation in the robbery. Three men were cleared of all charges and police suspect that another 10 may have been involved, but their identities are unknown.

In popular culture

Swedish public television broadcaster Sveriges Television released a six-part Swedish-language documentary film called Helikopterrånet. Netflix reportedly planned to release a movie based on the robbery with actor Jake Gyllenhaal as the star actor. After interviewing four of the jailed perpetrators, Swedish-born author Jonas Bonnier published a semi-fictional novel called Helikopterrånet. An eight-part miniseries, The Helicopter Heist, premiered on Netflix in 2024. There is a heist mission in Grand theft auto V (2013) by Rockstar Games. The main playable protagionists break into an agency building. One of the options to break into the building is by flying a helicopter to the roof and break in through a glass pyramid skylight, similar to the Västberga heist.