Wave of burglary
Flights of arms: “Switzerland is a self-service for organized bands”
In less than a week, four armorys were robbed in Saint-Gall and Valais. While the concern grows, the branch denounces too low border surveillance.
Switzerland is popular with criminal networks, especially French, to obtain arms.
TDG
- A series of arms flights strikes several armorys in the cantons of Saint-Gall and Valais.
- French criminal groups regularly target arms shops in Swiss territory.
- Federal police confirm the involvement of organized bands coming mainly from the Lyon region.
- The weapon environment relaunches the debate on stricter border controls.
July 17. Malfrats sinking the front of armory in Alststätten (SG), break the windows and leave with ten handguns. During the night of July 19 to 20, a shooting stand in Wittenbach, in the same canton, was robbed and several ancient weapons are stolen. The next day, fourteen pistols were stolen from a armory of the city of Saint-Gasseau. July 21, in Valais, Three men rob Armership in Evionnaz, but abandon a large part of the loot after a car accident. Two suspects have since been apprehended.
These flights – even successive – are far from isolated cases. In 2020 and 2021, hundreds of weapons were stolen from various robberies in Switzerland, including a perpetrated in Sion, before reappearing in France, in particular. “It is unfortunately not a new phenomenon,” agrees Jean-Luc Addor, UDC national advisor and president of the Protell weapons lobby. “Switzerland is a self-service for organized bands from the French suburbs,” says Valaisan. In the case of Evionnaz’s robbery, suspects are nationals of France, domiciled in the Lyon region.
On its website, the Désvalée Valais armory offers a choice of more than 40 weapons for rental.
DR
To stem these waves of burglaries, Jean-Luc Addor hammers a solution that he erects as a political mantra: “We must strengthen border controls and therefore increase the means allocated to customs and cantonal police.”
“A simplistic solution”
The Swiss Association of Armors (ASA), which revolves around the same interests as Protell, is put behind the line of Jean-Luc Addor. “A foreign burglar can commit his offense with us during the night and then run away without problem by the border to escape arrest and sanction,” said its president, Daniel Wyss.
The Federal Police Office (Fedpol) confirms an increased presence of French organized crime on the national territory. “The groups identified in Switzerland often come from districts located in the Lyon region, Annemasse, Grenoble, Montbéliard or Saint-Etienne, and commit flights, especially in armories, scams, money laundering and armed attacks,” said Fedpol. The Office specifies that “the burglaries of armory in 2020 and 2021 also seem to be linked to this environment”.
Faced with this observation, is the strengthening of border controls the only bulwark with cross-border crime, in particular for Swiss armories? On the left, we are more nuanced. “Strengthen security, yes, but without putting systematic border controls,” warns Clarence Chollet, an environmental national councilor. “Following the simplistic solution of the UDC is to get out of Schengen”, underlines that which pleads for more means, in particular for mobile controls.
The Neuchâtel notes in passing that cross -border cooperation is effective, like the Valais robbery where the deployment of Swiss and French police led to the arrest of two suspects. “Let us develop these collaborations,” supports the elected official before opening a debate that annoys arms professionals. “If these armorys are so easily robbed, it is because they are not secure enough. In Switzerland, we do not consider weapons enough as dangerous objects. ”
Deprived in the face of the violence of robberies?
After the waves of burglaries in 2020 and 2021, the vulnerability of the Swiss armory had been pointed out, in particular by the Lyon judicial police. The chief of the criminal division, now a boss of the fight against organized crime, then was indignant at the security system of Swiss brands. “The stock is almost available in real time on the net, the weapons are exposed and are accessible, including at night, behind an iron curtain. It is not at all satisfactory in terms of security when you know the risk that this equipment represents, ”said Thibaut Fontaine at the microphone of RTS. In France, weapons of this nature are stored in a strong room. And according to Clarence Chollet, “Switzerland should impose the same standards”.
Jean-Luc Addor, he fiercely opposes it. The armorys are, he says, “extremely secure”. But vulnerable to the assaults of rare violence. “These criminals are professionals and do not hesitate to use weapons, bike cars or even explosives. A safe will not change anything, they are able to force it. Or, worse, they could take staff hostage. ” Clearly, in the eyes of the president of Protell, “absolute security simply does not exist”.
Since 2022, Confederation requires Branch professionals better secure their businesses. The gunsmiths must, in substance, keep their sensitive equipment in security cabinets, install an alarm connected to the cantonal police station and strengthen the infrastructure of the premises. They have until 2027 to comply.
A plethoric weapon offer in Switzerland
Small Arms Survey, based in Geneva, studies and informs governments about arms and armed violence. According to their projections, at least 2.3 million civil weapons are in circulation in Switzerland, or 27.6 weapons per 100 people. “These are estimates. It is very difficult to assess the exact number since before 2008, the acquisition of a weapon did not require a permit, “warns Luigi de Martino, head of the unit of support for policies and capacities with the organization.
The fact remains that there are proportionally “more weapons in circulation in Switzerland than in many European countries”. France, for example, has around 19.7 weapons per 100 inhabitants. In other words, the Swiss offer is “important”, so that it “can attract the attention of malicious people”, notes the expert.
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