April 05, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 16, 1428

GENEVA: Three Chinese nationals were arrested in Switzerland after running up bills worth thousands of Swiss francs for hotels and luxury goods on forged credit cards, police said on Wednesday.

The two men and a woman were caught on Tuesday when a bank alerted the authorities after they had paid a hotel and restaurant bill in the northwestern town of Delemont with forged credit cards.

They were arrested prior to boarding a train for Paris, from where they had planned to travel back to China, the police said in a statement.

The police also seized brand-name goods such as Louis Vuitton and Yves St-Laurent handbags.

The forged credit cards were made in Hong Kong, and used copies of magnetic strips off genuine cards stolen in Australia or New Zealand, the police said.—AFP