Source: Xinhua Author: 12/30/2010
Subject Concerned: Government Airport
Air security procedures are "very important" because France should have permanent alertness against terrorism threat, Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said Dec. 30.
"The terrorism threat is real," so that strict scrutiny was very important and "I will not lift the measures for a certain period of time," Hortefeux said while checking new security measures at Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport in north Paris.
Promising to closely surveil and control all planes bound for the United States, Hortefeux checked the security measures for Terminal 2E, through which 32 flights take-off daily heading to the United States.
Official intelligence has pointed out al-Qaeda was behind the Christmas Day bomb attempt on a Northwest Airlines flight before landing in the U.S.-based Detriot airport from Amsterdam, Hortefeux said, underlining that the terrorist group was also a potential or even direct threat to France.
Extra deployment of 200 gendarmes and 1,700 police staff have been mobilized to meet the demand of tougher security procedures, the minister added.
On Dec. 29, Hortefeux announced to implement long-term tougher restrictions for air passengers and carriers from the beginning of January.
According to the new measures, detailed personal information of passengers traveling to France or via France from some "high-risk" countries will be collected at the time the tickets were reserved, besides intensified routine baggage check and body search.