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French-speaking SwitzerlandCrazy chase from Grandson to Biel: the fugitives fire
Significant inter-cantonal resources were mobilized on Monday to manage to arrest two individuals who did not hesitate to shoot before being immobilized by the Friborg police.
Two gray VWs were involved in the collision.
lematin.ch/Vincent Donzé
The arrest occurred near the hamlet of Vigneules.
lematin.ch/Vincent Donzé
Blocked traffic and the formation of a traffic jam in both directions marked Monday morning in Biel the arrest by large police forces of fugitives, after a mad chase started in Grandson (VD) . The leak began at 4:15 a.m. and ended at 10:25 a.m., a journey which by the shortest route of 64 kilometers normally takes 48 minutes.
Before daybreak, a gendarmerie patrol spotted the behavior of two suspicious individuals at Grandson station. Seeing the two individuals boarding a car and leaving the scene, the gendarmes switched on the blue lights and the “stop police” matrix in order to carry out a check.
«Stop police»
At first, the driver pretended to stop, before suddenly accelerating and leaving the scene. Followed by the gendarmes, the occupants of the car did not obey the message “stop police”. Shortly after the Corcelettes roundabout, an occupant of the car fired several times at the patrol, without injuring the police.
A major coordinated system has been set up, here an intervention group (right).
lematin.ch/Vincent Donzé
After the gunshots, law enforcement followed the Ford while maintaining a safe distance. Between Onnens and Corcelles-Concise, the driver stopped in a roundabout. An occupant then descended with his weapon and fired several shots in the direction of the patrol, which was stopped from a distance. “The gendarmes were not injured in these new shootings”, specifies the cantonal police of Vaud.
High speed
After the shooting, the suspects resumed their race at high speed in the direction of Neuchâtel. Given the circumstances, the Fribourg, Neuchâtel and Bernese police were informed from the start and throughout the pursuit. “An important coordinated system has been put in place”, sums up the Vaud police.
Two helicopters were engaged, one visible in the sky (left) above the shore along Lake Biel.
lematin.ch/Vincent Donzé
Two helicopters were engaged, one from the Swiss air force, the other from the Vaud cantonal police, namely Heli-Lausanne. In the middle of the morning, the joint search system made it possible to locate the car which was traveling in the direction of Biel.
colliding
The Ford and its occupants were arrested by the Friborg and Neuchâtel police intervention groups, shortly before Biel, on rue de Neuchâtel. On this occasion, two Friborg police VWs collided with the suspects’ Ford. During the search of the car a long weapon was found.
The protagonists were sent to the Blécherette Police Center for the rest of the procedure. “Ongoing checks will make it possible to formally identify the two arrested suspects”, specify the investigators.
Road users had to be patient, here in the direction of Biel.
Reader reporter
In the direction of Neuchâtel, the users were numerous, some having turned around.
lematin.ch/Vincent Donzé
Traffic was largely disrupted at the scene of the arrest and its surroundings until the establishment of the report and the investigations. The public prosecutor has opened a criminal investigation. The Vaud public prosecutor entrusted the investigations to inspectors from the security police, including those from the scientific police brigade.
This intervention required the commitment of numerous patrols from Vaud, Fribourg, Neuchâtel and Bern, including some special units, such as an intervention group, an accident group and a canine brigade.