Two Swiss accused of planting explosives to intimidate the rich

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) has accused two Swiss men of carrying out a bomb attack in Basel last year. They also allegedly tried to buy explosives in Stuttgart, Germany.

The aim of the youths, aged 25 and 27, was to intimidate wealthy people, the OAG told the Keystone-SDA news agency on Friday evening, without giving further details, confirming a report by the public broadcaster SRF. No one was injured in the explosion, but material damage amounted to CHF 170,000 ($192,000).

According to the OAG, the two suspects, from cantons Basel City and Basel Country, first carried out an explosive attack on a building in the Bruderholz district of Basel on March 30, 2022. They then travelled to Stuttgart on June 20, 2022 to buy four 500-gram packs of plastic explosives for €2,000 but were intercepted by the German police.

A tip-off put the police on their trail. They then traced a man on DarkNet who said he wanted to buy explosives. The two men were remanded in custody and extradited to Switzerland at the request of the OAG.