Top Swiss vaccine adviser says he was kidnapped

The head of Switzerland’s vaccination advisory body has stated that he was briefly kidnapped at the end of March, in a mysterious incident that ended days later in the death of his suspected captor.

Christoph Berger, president of the country’s Vaccination Committee and a leading spokesman on policies to counter the coronavirus pandemic, confirmed in a statement issued to local media that he had been briefly taken hostage on March 31 by a man he didn’t know.

“The kidnapper had me in his power for a good hour. During this time he confronted me with a demand for a substantial amount of money,” Berger said in the statement, carried in the Neue Zuercher Zeitung and other media outlets.

Berger’s statement indicated that the kidnapper’s motive was financial, rather than being related to his job. “The perpetrator made no reference to my role as president of the Vaccination Committee,” said Berger, adding that he was released after giving assurances that the captor’s demands would be met.

Following the incident, police attempted to arrest the suspect, a 38-year-old German businessman, in Zürich last Wednesday. A shootout ensued and the man killed a female associate before he himself was shot dead by police, according to local reports.

Source: Politico