Swiss Casino Raided by Masked Gunmen

Police in Switzerland are looking for a gang of armed robbers who took `several hundreds of thousands`of Francs from a casino early Sunday morning. The robbers, who wore black clothes and ski-masks, threatened customers and staff at the casino with pistols and machine-guns.

It is believed that about ten men arrived in two cars outside the Grand Casino, which describes itself as `The Swiss Las Vegas` on its website, before smashing the door open with a sledgehammer.

About 600 guests and casino employees were forced to lie on the floor while the gang emptied the cash registers they could. However, despite firing several shots at the door they could not enter the vault on the lower level.

Swiss police say that as the gang were attempting to escape a woman driving by got in the way of their cars, two silver Audis with French license plates. The men are believed to have pulled her out of her car and beaten her. However, it is thought there were no serious injuries to anyone during the raid.

Police lost the robbers as they fled toward`s Switzerland``s border with France, which is only 200 metres from the casino.

The robbery comes shortly after thieves at a hotel in Berlin escaped with $330,00 after raiding a high-profile poker tournament on March 6th armed with a pistol and a machete.

Switzerland`s gambling industry has recently started to expand, with several to regions now permitted to apply for licenses to operate casinos.