GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – One of the stranger sagas in bank robberies in the area is drawing to a close, with the thief awaiting sentencing after being convicted of trying and nearly succeeded in robbing the UBS just below Cornavin train station in Geneva. The Tribune de Geneve in a feature article 16 October recounts the tale told in court: how the man spent months preparing, by creating a fake employee ID after hacking the system, then dying his hair blond and dressing in a suit to look like a UBS employee.
He gradually gained the confidence of people who worked at the bank, and finally gained entry to the building, learning the various access codes including the tough employee entrance one of 1234! The Tribune points out that this code has since been changed. He finally carried out the robbery 12 September 2012, waiting for an employee to change the bancomat cash, then holding up the man at gunpoint to get bags holding more than CHF800,000. He dashed off to his scooter, parked nearby, but didn’t count on the bank employee freeing himself quickly enough to run after him. The bank worker hit him over the head, giving him a concussion and a security guard who arrived on the scene held him down.
The public prosecutor is asking for nine years.
