BREAKING NEWS: TWO BOMB ALERTS AT STOCKHOLM BANKS

UPDATED: Police in Stockholm say a currency kiosk in the Swedish capital has been robbed and that there was an attempted theft at another, with "ticking packages" left in each location.

Police have confirmed that an exchange bureau in Gullmarsplan in southern Stockholm was robbed on Thursday morning, while there was a failed robbery attempt near Slussen, close to the city centre.

 

Witnesses reported seeing masked men fleeing from both locations at around 10am.

 

In Gullmarsplan, one of the suspects had a "pistol-like object in his hand," according to a passerby who spoke to Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

 

The man was seen getting on a moped after running away from currency kiosk.

 

No-one is understood to have been harmed in either location. Police say it is still unclear if the two events are connected.

 

Police cars on Södermalm's Folkungagatan. Photo: Oliver Gee

  Lars Byström from Stockholm Police told The Local:

 

"I can now confirm that there was a successful aggravated robbery in Gullmarsplan and our forensics team is on the scene".

 

He would not be drawn on how much money had been taken, but he added that robbers had escaped empty handed from another kiosk on Götgatan near Slussen.

 

At midday The Local's Oliver Gee reported hearing a "loud bang" in the area after police called on people in the neighbourhood to stay indoors and take cover. 

 

Police have confirmed this was a controlled explosion carried out by a bomb squad.

 

"This will scare people in Sweden," another witness told our reporter.

 

There are some delays on the green line on Stockholm's Metro, as a result of people being moved away from subway stations close to the sites of the attempted robberies.

  Officers have cordoned off the areas around both exchange kiosks and by lunchtime the streets around them had emptied out.

 

But earlier in the day there were scuffles around Götgatan.

 

"Irritated members of the public keep trying to creep under the tape, so that they can access the Medborgarplatsen subway stop, " The Local's Oliver Gee observed at around 11am.

 

"Officers are becoming increasingly irate that the people aren't taking the police tape seriously," he added. 

 

Our reporter also filmed officers trying to move people away from the scene, with one appearing to push a child.

   SOURCE: The local