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TERRORISM

Swiss step up terrorist investigations

The number of criminal investigations into possible members of Islamist groups in Switzerland has doubled in the past four months.

Swiss step up terrorist investigations
Photo: Khaled Desouki/AFP

More than 60 possible Jihadists are currently facing prosecution, according to the Swiss attorney general, Michael Lauber.

Last November the number of cases being handled was 33.

“We have more than 60 criminal cases open relating to Jihadist terrorism,” Lauber said in an interview with the Bund and Tages-Anzeiger newspapers on Thursday.

He said most of the proceedings were to do with Islamist propaganda and support for terrorist organizations such as Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda.

Earlier this month a court in Ticino found three Iraqis guilty of supporting IS and handed down prison sentences. A fourth man was acquitted.

All four had been charged with trying to plant an IS cell in Switzerland and planning terrorist attacks.

“At the moment we do not have a case as serious as that of the Iraqis,” Lauber told the papers.

But he added that there were “various groupings of people considered problematic in Switzerland”.

The majority of the cases involved internet propaganda, and the Office of the Attorney General was looking for guidance from the courts as to what constituted propaganda under Swiss law.

“We hope particular cases will show us whether our laws are sufficient or whether we need to adapt them,” Lauber said.

Cases currently under investigation include one against a member of the executive of the controversial Islamic Central Council of Switzerland who released a video supporting a jihadist organization.

Another case involves a young man arrested at Zurich airport under suspicion he was headed for Syria to join the fighting.

Lauber told the papers he did not see a Swiss connection to the attacks in Brussels earlier this week.

“There is no evidence of a direct threat to Switzerland or its interests,” Lauber said, although he conceded the level of threat was “high”.

CRIME

Hoax bomb threats against French airports ‘traced to Swiss email’

Repeated bomb threats against dozens of French airports which led to evacuations and flight cancellations have been 'traced to an email address in Switzerland', according to French authorities.

Hoax bomb threats against French airports 'traced to Swiss email'

More than 70 bomb threats have been made against French airports in the past week, leading to evacuations at dozens of airports and at least 130 flights cancelled.

Most of the alerts were triggered by emails warning of a bomb in the airport – more than 70 such emails have been received by airports around the country such as Toulouse, Bordeaux, Paris Beauvais, Marseille and dozens of smaller airports – including Basel-Mulhouse on the Franco-Swiss border. 

On Sunday French Transport Minister Clément Beaune said that “almost all of the threats have been traced to the same email address, situated in Switzerland”.

He added: “Since Wednesday, it is almost always the same email address that is used, located outside the European Union, in Switzerland”.

He called on hosting sites to help the French authorities, saying: “Everyone has a responsibility, including the platforms and social networks, not to support this kind of attack and to cooperate as quickly as possible with the French civil aviation authorities and our justice system.”

In France, the maximum penalty for making a hoax bomb threat is two years in jail and a €30,000 fine.

As well as airport evacuations and flight disruption, French tourist sites have also been hit with bomb hoaxes – the Palace of Versailles has been evacuated seven times in the past week.

It comes in the context of a tense situation in France as the country raised its terror alert to maximum after an apparent Islamist attack on Friday, October 13th in which a teacher was killed and two others wounded.

Security at large events such as the Rugby World Cup matches has been stepped up. 

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