THE BLEKINGE GANG
The hard core
Cover:
Design: Ida Balslev-Olsen
The Blekinge Gang’s story continued throughout the eighties with a series of the greatest robberies in Denmark, such as the Christmas heist at Daell’s Department Store and the Herlev wheelchair robbery. At the same time, the members of the gang were being watched by the secret service – without being exposed or arrested.
In 1983, the Danish CID were close to clearing up the gang’s assault on a security van in Lyngby. But the investigation was terminated by the highest echelons of the Ministry of Justice.
In the following year, hard core members of the gang planned the kidnapping of the son of a Swedish billionaire in order to procure DKK 300 million for the Palestinians, while at the same time registering and watching supporters of Israel along with covert leaders of the Danish business world.
The second volume of Peter Øvig’s documentary account culminates in a detailed charting of the year-long planning of the gang’s most notorious heist, the robbery of the Købmagergade post office in Copenhagen in November 1988. The robbery itself was described minute by minute until a young policeman was hit by a shotgun shell fired from a sawn-over shotgun.
Published in Danish only (Gyldendal, 2007)
Reviews
“With his now two books of together more than 900 pages, Peter Øvig Knudsen has written an outstandingly high quality description of a piece of contemporary history…Øvig exploits his comprehensive material to write a diabolical documentary which guides us through the spectacular events with mind-blowing authenticity.”
Bo Maltesen,
Politiken
The film based on the book
“A documentary narrative refined to close to perfection. This is an historic account at the highest level, and also one which is highly entertaining … it is quite simply a fantastic story, which is incredibly well told.”
Peter Nielsen,
Information
“So clinical, so passionate for detail, so well referenced and at the same time so captivating and shocking…a fantastic book that calls for a response by the Danish security service (PET) and perhaps also from former leading politicians and civil servants.”
Henrik Hoffmann-Hansen,
Kristeligt Dagblad
“Peter Øvig Knudsen’s blindingly well narrated major work about the Blekinge Gang is still one of the major strengths in his production – in addition to his ability to retell his documentation in literary form, he refrains from making any kind of judgment or guessing at truths.”
Jakob Levinsen,
Jyllands-Posten