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TERRORISM

Two arrested in Swiss anti-terror operation

Swiss police arrested two people in a counter-terror operation in the Vaud canton, national media reported on Monday.

Published: 27 June 2017 08:52 CEST
Two arrested in Swiss anti-terror operation
File photo of an armed police officer on patrol. Photo: Richard Juilliart / AFP

The pair were stopped in a shopping centre car park at 3pm on Saturday afternoon, according to a report in 20 Minutes.

Both suspects, a man and a woman, are accused of supporting or participating in a criminal organization, a spokesperson for the Swiss Public Prosecutor's Office said.

READ ALSO: Switzerland faces 'heightened' terror threat in uncertain Europe

The spokesperson did not confirm which organization the two are suspected of supporting, but said they are thought to have “contravened the federal law prohibiting the Al-Qaeda and Isis groups and related organizations”.

Saturday's arrest comes just days after a man was arrested in Geneva on suspicion of supporting terrorist groups.

The Geneva man was reportedly suspected of being a key figure in the recruitment of jihadists on Swiss soil and was sought by Swiss police for at least two years.

Switzerland's government last week launched a period of consultation aimed at tightening anti-terror laws, as the country remains on high alert in the wake of recent attacks across Europe.

The new measures would replace the current temporary ban on terror organizations including Al-Qaeda and Isis with new, more specific, legislation making it a criminal offence to recruit people for a terror group, receive terrorist training or travel abroad for the purposes of terrorism.

READ ALSO: 'Paranoid' man causes terror fears in Lausanne metro

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.

Published: 23 October 2023 09:13 CEST
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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