Who is Rami in The Helicopter Heist?
RAMI is the main character of The Helicopter Heist, a Swedish Netflix series which dramatises a real-life million-dollar heist.
In the show, Rami lands on the roof of a high-security Swedish vault and attempts to outwit the police with a series of tricks and traps, including hidden bombs.
The real-life Rami
Rami is based on the real-life robber Shirwan Safa Kadhum and is played by Mahmut Suvakci.
Kadhum was born in Iraq, in 1979, and came to Sweden with his parents when he was young.
On December 22, 2000, Kadham shocked the nation when he broke into the Swedish National Museum and stole two Renoir paintings and one Rembrandt painting.
He vanished shortly after, but was arrested in 2004 when he tried to get the museum to buy the paintings back.
Kadham was sent to prison for two years for stealing the three paintings, which had a collective value of 30 million dollars.
In 2009, he plotted yet another high-stakes heist.
He recruited Alexander Erikkson to fly him and some accomplices to a GS4 cash depot.
When they landed on the roof of the compound, they smashed a window using sledgehammers and escaped with 39.1 million kronor.
They prevented the police from following them by planting bombs at their helicopter base and placing caltrops on the roads.
Eventually all of the robbers were found and jailed, but the 39.1 million kronor were never recovered.
Kadhum’s motive
Kadhum insisted that he was forced into the crime.
He was training as a chef in 2009 when one of his creditors offered him the chance to take part in the robbery.
With his debts piling up, Kadhum claimed that he felt he had no choice but to take part in the scheme.
When they were eventually caught, Kadhum was the only member of the group to plead guilty to the crime.
This was because DNA evidence clearly proved that he was at the scene of the robbery.
The authorities also had his fingerprints on record from his break-in at the Swedish National Museum.
The Helicopter Heist
The Helicopter Heist closely follows the real life robbery committed by Kadhum and his accomplices.
However, there are two major differences between Kadhum and his TV counterpart Rami.
The first is that Kadhum didn’t escape to Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic because he had left DNA traces at the crime scene.
Instead, he fled to Punta Cana so that the police task force wouldn’t break into the home of his pregnant girlfriend.
The second major difference is that Kadhum wasn’t a childhood friend of fellow thief Michel.
Rami and Michel’s close friendship is an element that has been added for dramatic effect.
Crime enthusiasts can watch Rami and Kadhum’s story on Netflix, as The Helicopter Heist is now available to stream.