Uspenski Cathedral broken into again, in identical fashion

Police examining connection between apprehended perpetrators and June disappearance of valuable icon

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A burglary, succesfully foiled this time, in the early hours of Wednesday morning at the Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral in Helsinki may lead the police on the trail of the "Theotokos of Kozeltshan" icon depicting the Virgin Mary, which was stolen in a previous break-in two months ago.
      In the early hours of Wednesday morning the police apprehended four men, some of whom had broken in to the Greek Orthodox cathedral situated in Helsinki’s Katajanokka district.
      “Some of the men were caught inside and some outside the church. Some items had been moved around inside, but according to our present knowledge nothing is missing”, explains Detective Chief Insp. Kari Niittymäki, who is in charge of the investigation.
     
The church had been broken into through a window. According to local pastor Markku Salminen the route was exactly the same as in the previous burglary in early June.
      At that time, apart from the extremely valuable icon, the thieves also seized jewellery and ornaments that worshippers had left as offerings around the actual work, and further jewels from around a second icon.
      “The tactics used were the same as before. They ever used the same window”, Salminen explains.
      The congregation, however, had made improvements to the church’s security systems after the previous burglary, and the security firm reached the scene on time.
     
The deed is being investigated as an attempted aggravated robbery. According to the police, three of the four apprehended individuals are from Romania, and around 30 years of age.
      “With regard to the fourth apprehended person, it is not yet clear if he was involved”, Niittymäki explains.
      The police will now try to unravel whether the perps are connected to the June icon theft.
      “Of course this gives as a glimmer of hope that some information would surface”, Markku Salminen says.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Valuable icon stolen from Uspenski Cathedral (9.6.2010)

Links:
  Uspenski Cathedral (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat