Major police manhunt after assault on the Artherstrasse

The Zug police are still reluctant to release more information about the incident in which a 15-year-old girl was tied up. The appeal for witnesses has yielded some information.

The incident is shocking: on Monday afternoon, a teenager was robbed and tied up at her home on the Artherstrasse. The perpetrators fled in a van, and the police immediately launched a manhunt. Local people seem to have noticed very little of this, however, as several phone calls to the neighbourhood show. A resident on the Artherstrasse says that he was sitting on a bench in front of his house drinking a coffee late on Monday afternoon, as he often does. He was all the more surprised when he heard about the incident the next day. In other places, too, people only found out about the robbery the day afterwards, through acquaintances or media reports. Many people were thereby left with an uneasy feeling.

It doesn't seem as if there were a lot of police activity on the streets on Monday evening. When asked about this, Frank Kleiner, media spokesman for the Zug Police, said: ‘People have the wrong idea. It wouldn't be possible to have a police officer at every road junction. We deployed all the available resources.’ Does this operation stop at the cantonal border? ‘Of course not,’ says Frank Kleiner, adding: ’We are working closely together with the police forces of neighbouring cantons.’

Deliberate dosing of information
The Zug Police did not answer some specific questions from the Zuger Zeitung newspaper regarding the attack. This was ‘so as not to jeopardise the investigation’. For example, whether the presence of several rescue and police vehicles at the ‘Kreuz’ bus stop in the direction of Zug on Monday evening indicated the exact location of the crime scene. A commuter had wondered about this, and informed the newspaper of his observation. The police thereby referred to ‘Artherstrasse’, which runs along the entire length of the Zug lakeside district.

Despite this deliberate dosing of information, the police have launched an appeal for witnesses. At first glance, this seems contradictory. When asked, the media spokesperson explained: ‘We have to weigh up very carefully what is more important: the protection of the privacy of the victim, or the release of information when calling for witnesses.’

The police are hoping to gain a lot from the appeal for witnesses, as the speedy departure of the perpetrators’ white van could have attracted attention, particularly as a man was knocked down in the process: he was a police officer who happened to be there in his free time. According to the police report, he had observed how the perpetrators - presumably two men - loaded a safe into the vehicle, and he then identified himself to them as a police officer.

The robbery took place in Oberwil             Photo: Stefan Kaiser
There were several rescue and police vehicles at the Kreuz bus stop        Photo: Screenshot Google Maps

‘Every report is valuable’
Several tips had been received from the public by midday on Wednesday. ‘Every report is valuable,’ says Frank Kleiner. Some would be followed up, but, with some others, it quickly become clear that they were not connected to the case at hand. No new findings have emerged to date, however, and it is also currently not clear in which direction the van drove off: towards Arth or Zug.

The Zug Police are not refusing to answer any specific questions, however. The 15-year-old girl who was tied up was not robbed personally. And the reference in the appeal for witnesses that there was probably some damage to the passenger side of the white van came from the police officer who was hit.

Appeal for witnesses
The police are still looking for witnesses. The perpetrator vehicle is believed to be a white Renault Kangoo with French licence plates. The vehicle was possibly damaged on the passenger side.

In addition, one of the suspects is described as follows: 180 cm tall, 20 to 30 years old with brown or black curly hair, brown eyes and a beard. He was wearing short black trousers, a white T-shirt and a black hat at the time of the crime.

Anyone who can provide information about the perpetrators or the vehicle should contact the Zug Police on 041 595 41 41. The police say that it is possible that the perpetrators may have been noticed beforehand in the Artherstrasse area of Oberwil.