Suspected teenage bank robbers also believed to have robbed two stores
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Two 16-year-old boys, who are suspected of robbing a bank in the southwestern community of Piikkiö on August 19th, are also believed to have robbed two stores in the area in the past year.
Police in Kaarina say that the same two boys had robbed a cash register at a Ruokavarasto discount food store in Piikkiö in September last year, and at the Kaarina outlet of the hardware and automotive product retailer Biltema earlier this summer.
The police investigating the crimes say that the suspects are two ordinary boys attending vocational school in nearby Turku, with no previous criminal records. The boys are said to be from "good homes". According to the police, the two were attracted by what they saw as easy money.
All three robberies involved roughly the same modus operandi, in which one of the two, wearing a mask, approached the till and demanded money, while threatening an employee with a knife. When he got the money, he would run outside, where his partner was waiting with a moped.
The bank robbery yielded a few thousand euros, most of which has been recovered. The police say that they solved the crime through their own investigations. There were many witnesses, but nobody was able to positively identify the masked robbers.
The two were still in police custody on Tuesday. The police say that the boys are somewhat childish, and believe that they will have learned their lesson.
The police also chide the boys’ friends for not coming forward, saying that they must have at least suspected that the two were involved in something illegal.
Helsingin Sanomat
