This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/12/switzerland-two-held-toxic-gas-syrian
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Pair held over suspected explosives plot in Switzerland | Pair held over suspected explosives plot in Switzerland |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Two men of Syrian origin suspected of being linked to terrorism were arrested in Geneva on Friday with traces of explosives, a government official has said. | |
| Prosecutor Olivier Jornot said the two men had recently arrived in Geneva when they were arrested and did not speak French. | Prosecutor Olivier Jornot said the two men had recently arrived in Geneva when they were arrested and did not speak French. |
| The Swiss attorney general’s office said earlier that the two men being held were arrested on suspicion of making, hiding and transporting explosives, as well as for violating federal law which bans membership of groups affiliated to Islamic State or al-Qaida. | The Swiss attorney general’s office said earlier that the two men being held were arrested on suspicion of making, hiding and transporting explosives, as well as for violating federal law which bans membership of groups affiliated to Islamic State or al-Qaida. |
| More arrests were expected in the coming days amid heightened security in the Swiss city, Jornot said. | More arrests were expected in the coming days amid heightened security in the Swiss city, Jornot said. |
| Geneva security officials had recently raised the alert level in the city in connection with a hunt for four suspects linked to the Paris attacks on 13 November, but Jornot said there was no indication that these suspects were in Switzerland. | Geneva security officials had recently raised the alert level in the city in connection with a hunt for four suspects linked to the Paris attacks on 13 November, but Jornot said there was no indication that these suspects were in Switzerland. |
| Related: Geneva on maximum alert in hunt for four Paris attack suspects | Related: Geneva on maximum alert in hunt for four Paris attack suspects |
| The two being held were arrested on Friday on the road outside Cologny, a municipality in the canton of Geneva, SwissInfo reported. | The two being held were arrested on Friday on the road outside Cologny, a municipality in the canton of Geneva, SwissInfo reported. |
| Earlier this week, Swiss media circulated police images of four men alleged to be members of Isis, whom authorities were hunting, reportedly after a US intelligence tip-off. | |
| The department would not comment on whether the four being hunted were believed to have had any direct role in the Paris attacks, where 130 people were killed by gunmen and suicide bombers. | The department would not comment on whether the four being hunted were believed to have had any direct role in the Paris attacks, where 130 people were killed by gunmen and suicide bombers. |
| Swiss justice minister, Simonetta Sommaruga, said on Friday that authorities had no reason to believe terrorists were planning a specific attack in Switzerland. | Swiss justice minister, Simonetta Sommaruga, said on Friday that authorities had no reason to believe terrorists were planning a specific attack in Switzerland. |
| Pierre Maudet, Geneva’s head of the security and economic affairs department, told the local Le Temps newspaper that security in the city would be heightened but played down connections to the recent situation in Brussels. “We can’t say that an attack has been foiled today,” Maudet said, but added that precautions continue “while the more precise threat still exists”. |