Last Monday, shortly after 4.30 am, four individuals attempted to break into a shop on the Stadtplatz in Aarberg, in the canton of Bern. Neighbours called the police. By the time the officers arrived, the four had already fled. All that remained were the broken windows and signs of the attempted break-in.
The ensuing chase spanned two cantons. The police spotted the fugitives’ vehicle on the outskirts of Neuchâtel. Instead of stopping, the four of them accelerated. In the Vue-des-Alpes tunnel, they collided with another car. No one was injured, but the vehicle was damaged. That did not stop them either: they ignored a police checkpoint, carried on driving and eventually abandoned the damaged car in La Chaux-de-Fonds. They tried to escape on foot. It was then that they were all caught, two of them almost immediately and the other two following an extensive search operation.
All four are in pre-trial detention, suspected of attempted burglary. Two of them are minors. The vehicle they used, which had been stolen, was seized. During the search, a second stolen vehicle linked to the case was also found. The case is being investigated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Bern and the Neuchâtel Cantonal Juvenile Court.
Such incidents are unusual in Switzerland, and when they do occur, they provoke a curious mixture of disbelief and fascination. Two cantons, one tunnel, two minors arrested at dawn. And the shop in Aarberg with its broken shop window but the premises otherwise intact.