As reported by Daudix:
The valuable watch collection stolen on Thursday from a museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds was found on Saturday in the forests of the French Jura.
The chronographs were hidden in the bushes. The discovery of the loot and the arrest of two of the alleged robbers is the result of cross-border police cooperation.
The loot of the 5 July multimillion-dollar robbery of the Girard-Perregaux watch museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds was found in neighbouring France during an extensive raid on Saturday.
All the watches were hidden in the bush south of Valdahon, in the region named after the Doubs river. Two suspects were arrested, and at least a third man is still wanted, the Neuchâtel canton police announced on Monday.
Posing as vendors, at least three criminals had broken into the museum on Thursday morning at around 8.30 a.m. and had bound and gagged the cleaning lady who had opened the door for them.
They then broke open the cases that held the precious chronographs and made off with loot valued at several million francs.
The manner of the robbery suggests that the perpetrators were not themselves collectors or experts. Among the hundred or so antique and contemporary watches were extremely valuable pieces, such as the famous 'Tourbillon sous trois Ponts d'or'.
All the watches on display were inventoried and therefore difficult to sell.
The two suspects apprehended by the French gendarmerie a few hours after the robbery are originally from the Balkans. The French prosecutor's office in Besançon placed them under arrest on Friday and their extradition has already been requested by the Swiss investigating judge in charge of the case.
In order not to prejudice the ongoing investigation, the police of the canton of Neuchâtel do not wish to disclose details of the search for the third suspect and possible accomplices.
Source: Swissinfo
