A disturbing link between two explosions in Geneva, Switzerland. This Monday, November 25, a 12-year-old girl was seriously injured in an explosion in the lobby of her building, local media report.
This tragedy could be related to another explosion that occurred last August in the Swiss city, according to the Confederation Prosecutor’s Office and Fedpol, in charge of the investigations. In fact, the two people pointed out that they both work for the same company: the famous luxury watchmaker Patek Philippe, at the Plan-les-Ouates facility, near Geneva.
A package bomb on a doormat in August
The attacks, which affected their homes, appear to be aimed directly at them. However, Monday’s explosion injured a collateral victim: the son of a Patek Philippe employee. The explosion occurred in the family’s milk box, a common box in Switzerland, placed under the mailbox and open to everyone to place objects. According to the Tribune de Genève, the teenager underwent abdominal surgery that lasted six hours.
Last August, a package bomb placed on the doormat of an apartment in a Geneva neighborhood exploded, injuring a father who had tried to handle it.
The two Patek Philippe employees do not work directly together: one is a mechanical engineer and the other a movement builder at the Geneva watch company, which employs more than 1,600 people, according to 20Minutes. The Federal Public Ministry has taken charge of both cases and believes they could be related.
“Stay discreet”
Asked by the Swiss media, the management of Patek Philippe did not want to react. However, according to the Tribune de Genève, it sent an internal communication to its employees on Tuesday, informing that employee safety is an “absolute priority and, as a precautionary measure, reinforcement measures have been implemented at the factory.”
The company has also asked its employees “to be discreet about their activity and their employer.” The UNIA, which defends professionals in the sector, told RTS that it was “very concerned about the company’s employees.”
Questioned by RTS, Patek Philippe employees said that their two attacked colleagues did not have any problems within the company. “We don’t have state secrets or confidential data, we just make watches,” said one of them.
“There is no psychosis. We are not in the stage of fears. We are in a company that will take matters into its own hands,” another employee of the luxury brand told 20Minutes.
As Le Temps recalls, Patek Philippe had been the subject of threats during the summer: “the company would have received bomb packages in the past accompanied by threats such as: next time we will attack the employees.” In addition, according to local media, several complaints of workplace harassment have agitated the luxury watch manufacturer in recent years.
Source: BFM TV
