Two Swiss tourists robbed in Cernobbio, watches worth 200,000 euros gone

Two gold Patek Philippe watches, worth 200,000 euros in total, are the haul from a robbery carried out on Friday evening in Cernobbio, shortly before 11pm. The victims are two tourists from German-speaking Switzerland, a husband and wife both aged 76, who had been on holiday by Lake Como for a few days.

The robbery was carried out by three men armed with knives. They acted in the dark, in a street of the lakeside town, exploiting the element of surprise. They cut the straps of the watches the two tourists were wearing on their wrists, then vanished through the streets of the town centre, all of them pedestrian.

All the couple could do was go to the Cernobbio carabinieri barracks to report what had happened. Red Cross responders from Cernobbio also attended.

At 7am on Saturday the two tourists returned to the scene with the carabinieri. During the reconstruction the man felt unwell and needed checks at the Valduce hospital. His condition is not a cause for concern.

The carabinieri have seized recordings from the many surveillance cameras in the area. It is not the first time that wealthy tourists visiting the lakeside town of Cernobbio have been targeted.