Paris airport is facing a problem with extremist employees
- 8 years ago
As the investigation into the crash of EgyptAir 804 continues, authorities in Paris are wrestling with the problem of potential radical cells among baggage handlers at Paris airports.
The fear that some of the 85,000 employees working at Paris airports might have terrorist sympathies, or be terrorists themselves, goes back at least a decade.
In December of last year, after attacks at other locations in Paris, about 70 airport employees with access to planes on the ground reportedly had their “red badges” lifted because they fell under police suspicion.
And in years past, more quietly, police have broken up several criminal networks among baggage handlers with radical Islamist connections.
But worries about racial, ethnic and religious profiling, plus the complications of French labor law, make them hard to address.
The fear that some of the 85,000 employees working at Paris airports might have terrorist sympathies, or be terrorists themselves, goes back at least a decade.
In December of last year, after attacks at other locations in Paris, about 70 airport employees with access to planes on the ground reportedly had their “red badges” lifted because they fell under police suspicion.
And in years past, more quietly, police have broken up several criminal networks among baggage handlers with radical Islamist connections.
But worries about racial, ethnic and religious profiling, plus the complications of French labor law, make them hard to address.