GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – For what must have been a few exhilerating hours Russian convict Alexei Shestakov left his prison for a hijacked helicopter ride then found himself scooting across Moscow in a taxi. At that point, however, police caught up with the escaped convict and put him behind bars again. The 34-year-old is serving 24 [...]
Bern confirms 2 Taliban hostages free and unharmed
March 15, 2012 by
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Olivier and Daniela, whose last names are not given by Bern to protect their privacy, are indeed free and the Swiss ambassador has spoken with them: the travelers from Bern were reported by the Pakistan army earlier in the day to have been picked up at a checkpoint and taken to safety. [...]
Swiss hostages captured by Taliban escaped, safe in Pakistan
March 15, 2012 by
BERN, SWITZERLAND – A Swiss couple captured by the Taliban 1 July 2011 as they were traveling in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region escaped and presented themselves to a Pakistan army post, a Pakistan general says. Olivier Och, 31, who is a police officer in canton Bern and Daniela Widmer, 28, a former police officer, have [...]
Basel psychiatric patient kills 1, injures 6 others after breakout
March 13, 2012 by
BASEL, SWITZERLAND – A psychiatric hospital patient who escaped Tuesday evening 13 March stole a car and crashed into a number of people, killing a cyclist and injuring six other people, news agency ATS reports. Details to follow as police make them available. In other breaking police news, 20 Minutes reports that a four-year-old boy [...]
Switzerland’s foreigners, poor and criminal or rich and comfortable
December 3, 2011 by
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland, with a foreign population that is 24 percent of the total, is grappling with the extremes they bring: what some consider undesirable foreigners, on the one hand, and on the other hand those who help finance a more comfortable life for their communes. Most, of course, sit somewhere in the middle, [...]
High-speed chase on A9 and in Bex, prisoner captured
December 3, 2011 by
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The reputation for newly arrived Tunisian refugees charged by Swiss media with committing a high number of crimes will not be helped any by a high-speed chase between Sion in canton Valais and Bex in Vaud Saturday 3 December. A prisoner, a 22-year-old Tunisian, escaped from the Sion penitentiary by climbing on [...]
Animal news roundup: Ohio zoo, Zurich customs, jail over euthanasia
October 20, 2011 by
Zurich Zoo temporarily welcomes 1,000 unplanned insect guests ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Zurich had its own headline animal news Wednesday 19 October, but it was not alone. The city’s airport was the scene of a discovery by Swiss customs officials of 261 illegally imported tarantulas, a haul that led officials to the apartment of the owner, [...]
TPG transport manager shot at work in Geneva
August 22, 2011 by
Murderer remains at large after Monday morning shooting GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 51-year-old Frenchman who was a maintenance department manager for the TPG public transport company was shot and killed at work Monday moring 22 August, at 10:00. The murderer arrived on a motorcycle, wearing a helmet and kept the helmet on while he walked [...]
Rough day for western Swiss police Monday: Geneva safety, escapees
August 17, 2011 by
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Monday 17 August was a rough day for the police, starting with the media focus on safety in Geneva and ending with unusual escapes in Vaud and Valais, in one case of a detained man who threw away his crutches, in the other of a speeding driver who ran across the autoroute [...]
Escaped convict turns himself in near Sainte Croix
July 1, 2011 by
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – The 64-year-old man described by police in Vaud and Neuchatel as a dangerous escaped criminal and psychopath has turned himself in: he told staff at a restaurant in Rasses, near a wooded area north and east of Sainte Croix, Friday morning that he was the man wanted by police and asked them [...]
