AUTHORITIES in Sweden launched a massive search Wednesday after crown jewels belonging to the country’s royal family were stolen by thieves who escaped on a speedboat.

Two crowns and an orb — one belonging to King Karl IX, the other to Queen Kristina — were snatched last Tuesday from the Strangnas Cathedral, a 900-year-old church located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the capital of Stockholm.

The two men lifted the jewels from locked glass boxes and made their getaway in a speedboat waiting at a nearby waterway, Sky News reported.

“The alarm went off when the burglars smashed the security glass and stole the artifacts,” Catharina Frojd, a spokeswoman for the 14th-century Strangnas Cathedral, said.

Swedish police said in a statement they’ve deployed helicopters and boats to search for the pair, who sped off in a motorboat into the vast system of lakes west of Stockholm.

Maria Ellior of the Swedish police’s National Operations Department told TT the items are “impossible to sell.” The artifacts, which date from the 17th century, are made of gold and enamel, and encrusted with beads, crystals and pearls.

The jewels were burial crowns to mark the death of King Karl IX in 1611, and were later exhumed and put on display, according to Sky News.

The Gothic-style cathedral where the theft took place is the burial site for Sweden’s 17th century royals, built mainly of red bricks, and belongs to the Lutheran church.

(SD-Agencies)