Raid on right-wing extremists yields 20 bombs

Police in canton Berne say they have seized 20 homemade explosives during an investigation into right-wing extremists. The seizure, announced on Tuesday, took place in early May.

Police scientists say the bombs were encased in aerosol tins, and would have been potentially lethal, if exploded. They were found in an apartment belonging to two members of the right-wing extremist group, “National Offensive”.

The men, who have not been named, were arrested in May, and admitted to making the bombs. One claimed he intended to sell them.

Police say they also discovered a cache of weapons in the men’s’ apartment, including guns and ammunition, knives, gas-sprays and an electric-shock device. They said there was also racist propaganda in the apartment.

The case has now been handed over to the Berne cantonal police, who are expected to launch criminal proceedings against the men.

The police have been coming under increasing pressure in recent weeks to take a tougher line against right-wing extremists.

A survey two weeks ago in the “SonntagsBlick” newspaper found that more than two-thirds of people thought the police had been too lax when a crowd of neo-nazis disrupted a speech given by the finance minister, Kaspar Villiger, on August 1.

Police did nothing to prevent the extremists getting to the site of the speech, or to disperse the group when it heckled the minister.

swissinfo with agencies