In Switzerland, the head of a watch company and his family have been kidnapped.
The perpetrators are fleeting.
A policeman is injured.
Geneva - In a film-like hostage-taking, a gang of thieves temporarily took control of the head of a watch company and his family in Switzerland.
Subsequently, the perpetrators are said to have fled with the company's gold, according to initial reports.
The act took place on Wednesday evening (November 3rd, 2021) in the center of the Swiss watch industry in Bassecourt in the northern canton of Jura.
As the newspaper "Le Matin" reported, six gunmen threatened the director of an unnamed watch company in his apartment and took him and his whole family hostage.
Then the family was driven to the company premises, where they had to stay in the car at gunpoint while the criminals entered the premises and stole gold and other valuable raw materials.
Hostage-taking in Switzerland: thieves break the roadblock and injure officials
How much gold they stole was still unclear, according to the prosecutor.
The thieves left the family with their car in a forest.
The victims were uninjured and headed for France in shock.
Border officials set up roadblocks at all border crossings, as "Le Matin" reported, citing public prosecutor Nicolas Theurillat.
The thieves, who fled in two vehicles, broke one of the roadblocks in Lucelle and injured an officer in the process.
Both vehicles were later found burned out in the Belfort region of France, along with an MP5 submachine gun.
(esa / afp)
In October 2020 there was a hostage-taking in the JVA Münster with fatal consequences.