still happy, he did not loose his luggage yet
Switzerland’s fast and efficient rail service may be the envy of the world but while the trains still run to time they are no longer as safe as they once were. Foreign visitors are being warned to mind their bags.
Many parts of the country have reported an increase in thefts of personal belongings on trains. In the canton of Vaud, for instance, thefts in 2012 were up 150 percent on the year before, according to Le Matin. Meanwhile, Geneva recorded a 38 percent increase, cantonal police say. And St Gallen cantonal police report twice as many cases of property lifted from train passengers in 2012 as in 2010. Public transport has become “a convenience store” for the sticky-fingered, the police chief says.
Now it seems the word has spread beyond the Swiss border. Neil English, ski correspondent for the British newspaper Mail on Sunday, wrote a blog containing “a cautionary tale” for holidaymakers in Switzerland. English, a regular visitor to Switzerland over several decades, reports two cases of luggage theft affecting a friend and family members over the space of several months. In the more recent case, during the New Year break, his friend’s rucksack was snatched from practically under their noses.
read more on THELOCAL.CH
http://www.thelocal.ch/page/view/tourists-warned-about-rising-crime-on-swiss-trains
Categories: Europe, Switzerland
The Swiss blame the ‘borderless’ travel that came with including Switzerland in the ‘Schengen visa countries’.
Geneva especially saw a large influx of foreign criminals, mostly from North Africa. After ‘doing their thing’ they are across the border in France within ten minutes…
I had personally observed one case of pick-pocketing in Paris Metro. The pick-pockets appeared to be Indian young boys(but I am not sure about it). They entangled one passenger (my friend) by one boy’s fake falling on the escalator. While my friend tried to help him the other boy picked the pocket of my friend and gave signal to his friend that job is done.
They had, earlier) marked their target as having something good in the pocket.
My friend soon found out that his purse was gone. He tried to rush towards the escaping boys but it was useless. The boys were openly challenging my friend to come on. It was a sight to see.
In my own case, I felt that some one was searching my trouser pocket. I tried to look back to left. The Pick-pocket went behind me to right. When I looked to right, he moved behind me to left. In the mean time the train stopped at a station and the thief disembarked quickly.
That was Paris, daily affair.