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The bandits carjacked a powerful vehicle to escape. Spotted, they charged on a French patrol which opened fire. There are no injuries.
Important police deployment Thursday at the end of the day in the district of La Jaluse in Le Locle (NE). Four people were held for two hours in a polishing company. (Illustrative photo)
Cantonal police Neuchâtel
Armed and hooded, several individuals entered at the end of the day Thursday in a company specializing in the watchmaking sector in Le Locle (NE), in the district of La Jaluse. The four people inside (editor’s note. not necessarily employees) were taken hostage and held for regarding two hours. Visibly disturbed by the arrival of the Neuchâtel police, the gangsters managed to escape. They did not hesitate to carjack the driver of a powerful German brand car.
What was their target?
“The four hostages were released by the police. They are not hurt but shocked and have support. The authors have effectively fled, ”confirms the spokesperson for the Neuchâtel law enforcement agencies, Georges-André Lozouet. And to specify: “We do not know at this stage the amount of a potential loot and the real target of the thugs. The polishing company or one or the other hostage? The ongoing investigations should guide us quickly. The prosecution has planned to communicate this Friday in the middle of the day ”.
On the run in Switzerland …
“We were alerted around 6 pm. A police operation was immediately launched, specialized units were engaged, the neighborhood was cordoned off and residents informed. The authors are on the run, ”adds the communicator. If, for Switzerland, the mobsters are still on the run, the same is not the case on the other side of the border. “I can not make any comment on the subject for the moment”, locks the respondent press. In other words, no confirmation between the hostage-taking and carjacking in Switzerland and the heavy-handed arrest in France.
… behind bars in France
And yet the bandits who left the watchmaking city on the hats of wheels will have had very little respite. Sources close to the investigation confirmed to us late Thursday evening that the “Swiss” fugitives were arrested in Pontarlier around 7.45pm. Very quickly spotted, they tried to escape a patrol of the national gendarmerie. Trapped, refusing to comply, the hostage takers then charged on the vehicle of the French police. Who unsheathed their submachine guns and ducked the stolen car in Le Locle to stop them. Again, no one was injured.
Who are these gangsters? How many were there? What was their real objective in the canton of Neuchâtel? The first elements of response should fall today.
