Police fired shots and foiled an armed robbery of a cash transport in downtown Oslo early on Monday, as the dramatic showdown was captured on video by a crew filming a pornographic movie nearby.
At least three robbers, their faces covered by ski masks, threatened the unarmed guards of a cash transport vehicle at about 1.30am local time. However, passers-by saw the robbery attempt and alerted police.
Hans Halvorsen, head of the Oslo police crime unit, said normally unarmed police were issued weapons and reached the scene in time to catch the robbers in the act.
”The robbers were arrested with a significant amount of cash,” he said at a news conference. ”We can’t say how much yet, but it was a lot.”
Halvorsen confirmed that police fired at the fleeing robbers.
Witnesses said the officers appeared to be returning fire from the robbers, but Halvorsen said it was too early in the investigation to confirm that.
The robbery took place at Aker Brygge, an upscale shopping centre and apartment complex on the Oslo waterfront. A film crew was making a porn movie in one of the apartments and heard shouting.
”We heard a lot of noise outside, and went to check. I saw a guard collapsing on to the ground, and a guy running,” porn star Thomas ”Rocco” Hansen said on national radio.
He said one film crew member grabbed a camera and recorded the rest of the action and the arrest. The tape, which lasts about an hour, was turned over to the police.
It was unclear whether anyone was injured in the clash.
Police declined to release the names of the suspects, or other information about them, because their investigation was continuing. — Sapa-AP