UPDATED: Armed robbers described as “very young” held up another bank in Sørlandet (southern Norway), this one in the small community of Konsmo in Audnedal on Tuesday morning. It was the second armed bank robbery in the area in as many days, and police later arrested two suspects.
Police have said they view the robberies as two separate incidents, and the arrests made late Tuesday afternoon were in connection with the second robbery Tuesday morning.
In that case, Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported that the Sparebanken Sør branch in Konsmo was robbed after two young men threatened bank employees and then disappeared in what witnesses described as a grey car. A grey Mercedes had been reported stolen from nearby Nodeland, just outside Kristiansand, during the night. Police suspect the car was used as the getaway vehicle in the bank robbery.
It later was spotted after the two suspects apparently lost control of the car and got stuck off the side of the road near Viblemoen. An unwitting local farmer later admitted he helped tow the two out of the ditch with his tractor, not realizing its occupants were suspected bank robbers.
Both robbers wore masks but bank employees described them as “very young.” Police said the two “stormed into the bank” and threatened employees “with either a rifle, a revolver or a pistol” before they took off in the grey car. The two persons arrested in nearby Mandal around 5pm Tuesday were described as two young men.
The robbery in Konsmo came just a day after another local bank, the Sparebanken Pluss branch in Vigeland, was also robbed at gunpoint on Monday. Vigeland is only about 30 kilometers south of Konsmo and just northwest of Mandal.
In that incident, bank employees also described the robber as a young man who entered the bank shortly before 10am, similar to the timing of the Konsmo heist. The robber in Vigeland, wearing a towel over his face, threatened employees with what police believe was a pistol and escaped with an undetermined amount of cash. No shots were fired.
Views and News staff
