The Local Switzerland

Updated: Swiss cash delivery driver pays 'millions' to free daughter kidnapped in France

Fri, 09 Feb 2018 14:37:00 +0100

Robbers posing as plumbers kidnapped the daughter of a cash van driver and demanded the vehicle's contents as ransom in a heist that could have netted them over 20 million euros, investigators said Friday.

Kidnapped Swiss aid worker freed in Darfur

Wed, 15 Nov 2017 12:14:43 +0100

Sudanese security forces have freed a Swiss aid worker who was kidnapped in Darfur last month in an overnight operation in the war-torn region, a Sudanese official said on Wednesday.

Bern struggling to free Swiss kidnapped again in Mali

Sun, 31 Jan 2016 21:29:18 +0100

Switzerland is struggling to resolve the case of a Swiss woman kidnapped for a second time by jihadists in Mali, Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Burkhalter said in an interview published on Sunday.

Video 'claims responsibility' for Swiss woman's kidnapping

Wed, 27 Jan 2016 09:55:55 +0100

Private Mauritanian news agency Al-Akhbar said on Tuesday that it had received a video purportedly from the Al-Qaeda-linked Emirate of the Sahara group claiming responsibility for this month's kidnapping of Swiss woman Beatrice Stockly in northern Mali.

Extremists abduct Swiss woman in north Mali

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 15:13:09 +0100

Gunmen abducted a Swiss woman overnight Thursday to Friday in Timbuktu in northern Mali, where she had lived for several years and was previously held by extremists, official sources say.

Bern issues condolences over Paris terrorist attack

Wed, 07 Jan 2015 18:27:00 +0100

The Swiss government on Wednesday afternoon issued a statement of “deepest condolences” to the families of victims of the attack on the editorial board of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris that left 12 people dead and many more injured.

Marchers protest judicial 'lapses' in woman's death

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:57:00 +0200

More than 250 people took part in a march in Lausanne on Monday afternoon to protest against the judicial system in the wake of the death of Marie, a 19-year-old woman killed last Wednesday after being kidnapped.

Vaud police confirm abducted woman is dead

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:51:00 +0200

Police discovered the lifeless body of Marie in the Torny-Le-Grand region of the canton of Fribourg, less than two days after the 19-year-old woman was abducted on Monday by a 36-year-old convicted murderer under house arrest, officials confirmed on Wednesday.

Kidnapped woman still sought after man's arrest

Tue, 14 May 2013 23:42:00 +0200

Officers on Tuesday arrested a 36-year-old convicted criminal, alleged to have abducted a 19-year-old woman, after he crashed in a small car following a high-speed chase by police in the canton of Fribourg.

Woman jailed four years for kidnapping husband

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 12:16:29 +0100

A 65-year-old woman from the canton of Zurich was sentenced on Tuesday to four years in jail for abducting her severely disabled husband to India and abandoning him there, where he died, to save costs for his care.

Kidnapped Swiss man beaten in France

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 01:14:00 +0200

Basel police are collaborating with French authorities in a bid to track down three men who abducted, beat up and robbed a 33-year-old Swiss man.

Swiss hostage released in Mali

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:11:00 +0200

A Swiss woman who was abducted in rebel-held Timbuktu in northern Mali last week was released Tuesday and handed over to troops from Burkina Faso.

Swiss officials in contact with Mali kidnappers

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:18:00 +0200

Switzerland's foreign ministry said Monday it was in contact with a group holding a Swiss woman abducted Mali's rebel-held Timbuktu last week.

Mali Islamists 'ready to free' Swiss hostage

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:20:00 +0200

A Swiss woman abducted last week in rebel-held Timbuktu in northern Mali has been snatched from her captors by armed Islamists who want to free her, several security sources said Sunday.

Swiss hostages 'safe and sound' in Pakistan

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:46:00 +0100

A Swiss couple held captive by the Pakistani Taliban for over eight months were flown back to the capital on Thursday, smiling and waving to the cameras and apparently in good health.

Taliban release Swiss hostages: army

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:40:00 +0100

The Taliban have released two Swiss tourists kidnapped at gunpoint more than eight months ago while travelling through Pakistan's dangerous south-west, the army said on Thursday.

Dad tried to sell children to their own mum

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:00:25 +0100

A 34-year-old father of two has been sentenced to eight years in prison after he kidnapped his six and seven-year-old sons, took them to Tunisia, and told their mother to pay him 170,000 francs ($182,000) if she wanted to get her children back.