Arrest in brazen passenger jet heist

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Police have arrested a suspect in a spectacular robbery of a passenger plane in southwestern Sweden, a spokesman said Wednesday.

The man, who is in his 40s, was arrested late Tuesday just north of Goteborg, Sweden's second largest city, hours after masked gunmen robbed the plane, which had just landed from London, police spokesman Mats Glansberg said.

He gave no other details and did not reveal if any of the loot was recovered.

Parts of the Landvetter airport outside Goteborg were evacuated after the thieves robbed the Scandinavian Airlines plane and left a suspicious package that police said looked like a bomb.

The robbers crashed through a gate at the airport and held up luggage handlers as they were unloading crates of foreign currency from the plane. No one was injured.

Police said Wednesday they had removed the package from the airport, but did not say where they had taken it or whether it contained explosives.

It was not immediately known how much money the robbers stole, but police spokeswoman Anna Rosenberg said it was "a big sum."

CNN Europe 03/2006