Jet contents robbed on Swedish runway

Passengers on a flight from London to Sweden looked on as masked gunmen robbed their plane in a dramatic runway incident, Gothenburg police said tonight.

The robbers made off with a “large sum” of cash in foreign currency from the cargo hold of the Scandinavian Airlines jet at Landvetter airport outside Gothenburg.

Police said the airport has been partially evacuated after the gang left a suspicious bag at the scene, believed to be a bomb

The dramatic incident began at 12.30pm local time when two cars, a Volvo and a Jeep Cherokee, smashed through closed gates at the airport in south west Sweden.

At least five robbers armed with machine guns approached the plane which was still full of passengers waiting to disembark after a flight from Heathrow.

They then confronted luggage handlers as they were unloading crates full of foreign currency from the hold, said Gothenburg police spokeswoman Anna Rosenberg.

She said the gang then made off, leaving a bag on the runway with an “antennae” sticking out of the top.

Swedish bomb disposals experts were still dealing with the suspect device this evening.

Ms Rosenberg added no-one was hurt in the incident and the passengers, some of whom are believed to be British, were evacuated from the plane.

She said: “Passengers were on the plane and some of the passengers were not even aware that there was a robbery going on.

“They didn’t see it because it was on the ground. No-one was hurt and the passengers were not threatened.”