Image: Federal Office of Customs and Border Security OFDF
Border police, customs officers and gendarmerie from Switzerland and France have been conducting coordinated controls of an unprecedented scale this week across 570km of border between the countries.
On Wednesday night, just few days before the opening of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, nearly 500 vehicles and 900 people were checked across Valais, Vaud, Geneva, Neuchâtel, Jura, Basel-Country and Basel-City on the Swiss side and Haut-Rhin, Territoire de Belfort, Doubs, Jura and Haute Savoie on the French side.
They discovered numerous violations concerning weapons, narcotics, waste and even tobacco import.
There has been a gradual increase in cooperation between the customs officers of France and Switzerland over the past few years.
Switzerland relies too heavily on an American NGO to detect child sexual abuse online, raising questions about the country's ability to protect children on its own.
Summer has arrived, with temperatures climbing past 30 over the long weekend. Basel reached 31 and Sion hit 32.4, but MeteoSwiss, says this does not yet count as an official heatwave.