GENEVA:
French four-time Method One champion Alain Prost was injured throughout a violent theft at his residence in Switzerland, Swiss media reported Saturday.
Switzerland’s biggest-selling newspaper Blick mentioned Prost, 71, sustained a minor head damage in the course of the assault, whereas one among his sons was compelled to open the household protected and the assailants fled with the contents.
A press release issued on Thursday from the Vaud cantonal police power mentioned a household dwelling in Nyon, northeast of Geneva, was the sufferer of a theft at their residence.
The incident befell on Tuesday, at round 8:30am (0630 GMT).
Contacted by AFP on Saturday, the police declined to present the identities of the victims of the crime, and refused to touch upon whether or not the incident involved the Prost household.
Thursday’s assertion mentioned the perpetrators “entered the home whereas the occupants had been current, threatened them, and compelled one of many members of the family to open a protected earlier than fleeing with stolen items”.
Regardless of an intensive search operation, the perpetrators haven’t but been apprehended, it mentioned.
– ‘Massive-scale search’ –
“A number of masked people entered the home. As soon as inside, they threatened the occupants and barely injured one member of the family within the head, underneath circumstances which are nonetheless being investigated.
“The perpetrators then compelled one other member of the family to open a protected earlier than fleeing with stolen items, of which the exact stock is at the moment being assessed.
“The Vaud cantonal police instantly deployed a large-scale search operation,” the assertion mentioned.
The cantonal public prosecutor’s workplace has opened a felony investigation, which is ongoing to try to apprehend the perpetrators, it mentioned.
Police mentioned the response concerned the Vaud cantonal police, the Nyon regional police, the canine unit, safety officers, the forensic science unit, the customs and border safety workplace, the French gendarmerie and a psychological help staff for the household.
Contacted by AFP on Saturday, a Vaud police spokesman mentioned the investigation was nonetheless ongoing however couldn’t reveal whether or not any arrests had been made.
“Each effort is being made to determine and apprehend the perpetrators of the assault,” the spokesman mentioned.
Blick mentioned there had been an alarming development over the past 12 months of burglaries within the Lake Geneva area of Switzerland concentrating on rich people, usually perpetrated by cross-border gangs from neighbouring France concentrating on prestigious watch collections.
Prost competed in Method One between 1980 and 1993 with the McLaren, Renault, Ferrari and Williams groups. He gained the world drivers’ championship in 1985, 1986, 1989 and 1993.
Solely Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton (seven every) and Juan Manuel Fangio (5) have gained the championship extra instances than Prost, whereas Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen have additionally gained the title 4 instances.
