Fire Consumes House, Closes Airport Road Traffic; More Swiss police requested; Scientist Comes To Basel For Assisted Suicide; Sentencing set for confused burglar

News For 1 May 2018

Last night a residential row house was engulfed in flames on the Airport Road in Basel.  Local residents had tried to extinguish the flames which broke out in the attic of the home to no avail.  The fire department managed to subdue the flames using several fire trucks.  During their operations, airport road traffic, including busses were diverted.  Two people were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation treatment.  The building has now been declared uninhabitable. 

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Pierre Maudet, the president of the Conference of Cantonal Judiciary and Police Directors, wants 2,000 additional police offices and the creation of a national police reserve.  Cyber attacks, terrorism and organized crime are the biggest threats to Switzerland, according to Maudet. He said the cantons could use more officers. On average, there is one police officer to 455 inhabitants and in Europe that ratio is 1 to 277. 10 to 15 percent more police officers are needed to equal Europe’s ratio.  Money is available to pay for these new jobs, according to Maudet. Last year, the federal government had a surplus of 9 billion Swiss francs.

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104 year old Australian biologist David Goodall, is coming to Basel to take advantage of the Canton's assisted suicide laws. Goodall already made headlines a few years ago in his home country for refusing to retire from his University post.  Now, with the assistance of a crowdfunding campaign, he has secured the funds to pay for his travel and the services of Exit, a Basel-based assisted suicide enterprise. Asked about his intentions by television reporters, Goodall replied, "I am very sorry to have reached this age.."

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In October 2016, two men broke into the Munster and stole 1,100 Swiss francs in cash and did about 9,000 francs in damage.  This past January, one of the dubious duo was arrested when he tried to steal an Apple TV box in Kleinbasel. Fingerprints and DNA tied him to the burglary at the cathedral.  After he was caught, he plead ignorance. “I thought it was a big villa. The other person did not tell me it was a church. It was a construction site.  “I did not realize that I had invaded a church. I cried when I heard that. I would never do that.”  To that the judge replied: “You broke into the largest church in Basel. What else should it be?”  The Romanian man was sentence to jail for 10 months while his accomplice is still at large.