Pharmacists asked to inform on suspected bomb-builders

Swiss pharmacies have been placed on alert to lookout for any potential terrorist activities, either in customers’ actions or purchases. If someone displays suspicious behaviour in a pharmacy, for example paying cash for an unusually large amount of certain substances, the member of staff has been asked to provide the authorities with as many details as possible. Chemicals such as nitrates and hydrogen peroxide are found in disinfectants, bleach, fertilisers or weed-killers and, in large enough quantities, can be used to build explosives. Pharmacists in the European Union have been obliged since 2014 to report suspicious behaviour or purchases. The Swiss government, fearing non-EU Switzerland could be seen as a soft touch by potential terrorists, has now asked the justice ministry to come up with regulations to limit the trade of so-called precursor substances: those that can be abused for other purposes, such as drugs or, in this case, explosives. In September, ...