Haarlem jewelry store robbers caught in Finland

Two men suspected of the armed robbery of a jewelry store in Haarlem in late February were apprehended in Helsinki, Finland in early March, Finnish newspaper Iltalehti reported on Friday. The Russian men were caught by Finnish customs officers after discovering an unusually large amount of expensive jewelry and watches with them. The two had left Hamburg, Germany for Helsinki, where Finnish customs officials pulled their car over for an inspection. The suspects could not explain the origins of the watches and jewelry wrapped in toilet paper in their bags, leading customs to inform the Helsinki police serious crime department. Authorities estimated the cargo's worth at approximately 800,000 euros. The batch included a Rolex Daytona, priced at 65,000 euros. After tracking the watches down to the Netherlands shop, the Finnish police contacted their Dutch counterparts. The mugshots revealed the duo to be the same as those wanted for the armed robbery. A Dutch police unit flew to Helsinki to confirm the origins of the watches. Workers of the store were injured during the robbery, and were left in the store tied-up and hurt. The 27- and 45-year old men were transferred to the Netherlands on the basis of European arrest warrant on April 9th. They will face a court there in July. to wait for their trial in July. "The colleagues in Finland did a great job. The cooperation went really well," detective Nico Bos from Dutch police told to Iltalehti.