Failed heist was on Norway’s archipelago of Svalbard – just 1,000km from the north pole

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

An armed man has robbed a bank in the world’s northernmost settlement on Norway’s remote Arctic archipelago of Svalbard – but he was caught shortly afterwards, authorities have said.

The heist was the first bank robbery in living memory in the territory, which is located in the Arctic Ocean, about halfway between continental Norway and the north pole.

“There was an armed robbery at around 10.40am [0940 GMT],” Terje Carlsen, a spokesman for the local governor, told AFP. “A man with a gun seized a sum of money,” he added. The suspect was arrested soon after in the centre of Longyearbyen, the capital.

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Police said the suspected robber was a foreigner travelling in the region. He was sent to the northern town of Tromsø on the mainland where he will be questioned.

Authorities declined to give more details about the suspect’s identity, the amount stolen or the weapon used in the robbery. The odds of the heist succeeding were always low on the archipelago, famous for glaciers and its polar bears, who outnumber residents.

Longyearbyen has about 2,000 inhabitants and most people know one another. The airport is the main means of leaving the settlement.

The Svalbard archipelago, roughly twice the size of Belgium, lies about 1,000km (600 miles) from the north pole. Temperatures in winter regularly plunge to below -20C (-4F), and can drop below -40C.