Terror Threat Rising In Switzerland, Says Attorney General

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) The number of active terrorism investigations in Switzerland has doubled since 2022, according to the country's top prosecutor.

This content was published on January 5, 2025 - 10:25 2 minutes Keystone-SDA

Deutsch de Terrorbedrohung steigt laut Bundesanwalt auch in der Schweiz Original Read more: Terrorbedrohung steigt laut Bundesanwalt auch in der Schwei
Português pt Procurador-Geral alerta para aumento de ameaça terrorista na Suíça Read more: Procurador-Geral alerta para aumento de ameaça terrorista na Suíç

+ Get the most important Swiss news directly in your inbox

There are 120 cases of suspected terrorism currently being conducted in Switzerland, Attorney General Stefan Blättler said in an interview with the SonntagsZeitung. Most of them have a jihadist background.

This involves terrorist propaganda on the internet, money flowing from Switzerland to terrorist organisations and people travelling to jihad.

+ How the heightened IS terror threat affects Switzerland

There is a risk that these people will one day plan attacks themselves if they are not stopped in advance. Thanks to interventions, planned attacks have actually been prevented in recent times, Blättler said.“We must expect terrorist activities in Switzerland to increase.”

The impression that Switzerland has so far been spared compared to other countries such as Germany or France is misleading. Even if these were comparatively small cases with isolated individual perpetrators, there were still incidents in Morges, Lugano and Zurich.

Precisely because these were isolated perpetrators, it is all the more difficult to detect them.“The attack in Magdeburg underlines once again that we must be vigilant,” said Blättler.

Investigations fall by the wayside

Other investigations, such as organised crime or cybercrime, have fallen by the wayside due to overwork and a lack of personnel at the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office.

“The federal government has neglected internal security for a long time. We clearly have a shortfall in this area,” said Blättler.

He warned that Switzerland must take active action against gang crime in order to avoid situations like those in Belgium or Sweden involving violence and extortion.

More More 'Dialogue': are you concerned about increasing violence and radicalisation among young people in Switzerland?

This content was published on Apr 18, 2024 Radicalisation of young people in Switzerland is increasing. Read up on the topic and join the discussion on dialogue!

Read more: 'Dialogue': are you concerned about increasing violence and radicalisation among young people in Switzerland

Translated from German by DeepL/mga

MENAFN08012025000210011054ID1109067730

Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.