GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Police in the Lake Geneva region and other parts of Switzerland are reporting an unusual mix of crimes and accidents, few of them linked to the weather, which is often a factor in early winter.
A driver was caught doing 133 kph in the village of Vétroz Saturday, in a 50 kph zone on a day where roads in the area were slippery from new snow. The 28-year-old Portuguese man had his license taken away on the spot and he now faces charges.
Fake ID tripped up counterfeit bill carrier
Border guards in canton Basel said Monday that a 29-year-old man from Cote d’Ivoire is being investigated over CHF12,800 worth of fake Swiss francs he was carrying. He was pulled aside on a Lausanne-St Gallen Intercity train after his ticket was checked and he was found to be using a half-price far card that didn’t belong to him. He was then checked by border guards who found an illegal pepper spray and the fake bills. Canton Fribourg already had the man, who is seeking asylum in Switzerland, under investigation.
The incident took place at the end of November, the border guards said Monday, and he was turned over to police in canton Solothurn. The fake bills were in denomincations of 50, 100 and 200 francs and were very high quality colour copies where the security elements on the bills were counterfeit, according to the guards’ office.
Party grill ventilation inadequate
Lausanne’s Flon neighbourhood was the scene late Saturday 15 December of a case of carbon dioxide poisoning that affected 60 of 100 party-goers, with 32 people sent to hospital. Some of them lost consciousness and 10 people remained in hospital Monday morning, but none are seriously ill.
A gas heater appears to have been at fault, used to heat the grill for cooking food for the crowd at the private party but there wasn’t adequate ventilation in the crowded cellar space where the party was held. The grill was dismantled and taken from the area before the first symptoms appeared: nausea, vomiting, headaches.
