Jan-Erik "Janne" Olsson (born 1941) is a Swedish criminal, born and raised in Ekeby, outside

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...

. He was the main culprit in the 1973

Norrmalmstorg robbery The Norrmalmstorg robbery was a bank robbery and hostage crisis best known as the origin of the term ''Stockholm syndrome''. It occurred at the Norrmalmstorg Square in Stockholm, Sweden, in August 1973 and was the first criminal event in Sweden ...

in Stockholm, from which the term Stockholm syndrome was coined.

Kalmar Prison

Olsson met the known criminal

Clark Olofsson Clark Oderth Olofsson (later known as Daniel Demuynck; born 1 February 1947), is a Swedish criminal. He has received sentences for attempted murder, assault, robbery, and dealing narcotics and has spent more than half of his life in prison in Sw ...

at the Swedish

correctional facility In criminal justice, particularly in North America, correction, corrections, and correctional, are umbrella terms describing a variety of functions typically carried out by government agencies, and involving the punishment, treatment, and s ...

Kalmar Kalmar (, , ) is a city in the southeast of Sweden, situated by the Baltic Sea. It had 36,392 inhabitants in 2010 and is the seat of Kalmar Municipality. It is also the capital of Kalmar County, which comprises 12 municipalities with a total of ...

, and they became friends. Olsson was fascinated by Clark Olofsson's criminal past as a bank robber. After Olsson later disappeared during a furlough, he carried out a failed rescue attempt of Clark Olofsson on 7 January 1973, attempting to blow up the wall with dynamite that he had smuggled in earlier. Olsson sat in a car outside during the attempt. However, Olofsson failed to detonate the dynamite, which caused the rescue attempt to fail.

Norrmalmstorg robbery

Olsson was the main culprit at the

in Stockholm on 23–28 August 1973. On 23 August 1973, he was inside the Pressbyrån store in central Stockholm, where he masked himself. He then entered

Kreditbanken Kreditbanken is a former bank that was based in Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1923, it was merged with the Post Bank to form PK-Banken in 1974. PK-Banken purchased Nordbanken in 1980, and it later changed its name to Nordbanken, which in turn be ...

with a submachine gun under his jacket and took four people hostage, demanding that Clark Olofsson be brought to him along with 3 million Swedish krona. Olofsson was a repeat offender who had committed several armed robberies and acts of violence, the first at the age of 16. During the robbery, Olsson fired multiple times at the police, injuring one officer in the hand and another in the face and arms. He spoke twice with Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme. The robbery ended on 28 August after the police deployed gas. Olsson, as well as the hostages and Clark Olofsson, all survived unharmed. Olsson was sentenced to ten years in prison; he was released in the early 1980s. Since the robbery, Olsson has not been convicted of any other crimes. He lived in Thailand for 15 years with his wife and son, where they ran a supermarket. He has since returned to Helsingborg, where he has operated an

automobile repair shop An automobile repair shop (also known regionally as a garage or a workshop) is an establishment where automobiles are repaired by auto mechanics and technicians. Types Automotive garages and repair shops can be divided into following categor ...

, and is now retired. Olsson has shown remorse for his actions as a

habitual offender A habitual offender, repeat offender, or career criminal is a person convicted of a crime who was previously convicted of crimes. Various state and jurisdictions may have laws targeting habitual offenders, and specifically providing for enhanced o ...

and has openly apologised for the hostage situation in Norrmalmstorg.

Bibliography

References

:''This article is completely or partly based on material from the Swedish Wikipedia, Jan-Erik Olsson (from 17 November 2014).''

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olsson, Jan-Erik 1941 births Living people People from Bjuv Municipality Swedish bank robbers Swedish prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Sweden Swedish expatriates in Thailand People convicted of robbery