Flyplassikkerhet i Paris - Frykt for radikalisering blant flyplassansatte - Curt Lewis

Seventy workers at Paris's Charles De Gaulle and Orly airports have their security passes revoked over extremism fears following terror attacks

• Officials said passes had been revoked 'mainly for cases of radicalisation'
• Employees worked within baggage handling, aircraft cleaning and supply
• Heightened security checks after deadly terror attacks killed 130 in Paris

Nearly 70 workers at two major airports in Paris have had their security passes revoked over extremism fears following the deadly terror attacks in the French capital which killed 130 people.
Secure-zone clearance has been withdrawn for dozens of workers at both Charles de Gaulle Airport and Orly Airport over fears staff members could have been radicalised by Islamist extremists.
Security agents confirmed the badges had been revoked 'mainly for cases of radicalisation' and said the contents of around 4,000 workers' lockers had been searched in a bid to highlight any issues.

Secure-zone 'red-badge' clearance has been withdrawn for nearly 70 workers at both Charles de Gaulle Airport (above) and Orly Airport over fears staff members could have been radicalised by Islamist extremists

The move comes in light of the deadly Paris attacks, in which 130 people were killed and 350 injured, and after the Russian passenger plane brought down over Egypt was linked to a bomb smuggled on board by an airport worker.
Augustin de Romanet, chief executive officer of Aeroports de Paris, said the prefecture - the representative of the state - which issues the badges had carried out a screening after the Paris atrocities last month.

'Nearly 70 red badges were withdrawn after the attacks, mainly for cases of radicalisation,' he said in an interview with French media.

He confirmed around 85,000 people had secure-zone clearance in the two airports, most of them working for airlines or for 'several hundred' sub-contractors.

So-called red badges are issued to people employed within the secure zones of both airports, which includes areas of baggage handling, aircraft cleaning and working with suppliers.

'To be issued with a red badge, you have to be cleared by police, and if you work for a company that carries out security checks of in-flight luggage, you need three police checks,' De Romanet said.

Security agents said the badges had been revoked 'mainly for cases of radicalisation' and said the contents of around 4,000 workers' lockers had been searched in a bid to highlight any issues. Pictured: Orly Airport, Paris

He added that deployment of military personnel at the two airports had been boosted by half following the attacks.

He also said passport officers were checking the IDs of all people leaving the country, 'including flights in the Schengen zone,' the European Union's border-free area.

Air traffic was down five per cent compared with a year earlier, De Romanet said.
'I hope we will return to a more normal level of traffic. It has been a heavy blow,' he added.
Security has been heightened in airports across Europe following the atrocities in Paris, in which terrorists targeted four restaurants, the packed Bataclan concert hall and the Stade de France on November 13.
Several Islamist militants connected with the terror attacks were killed in a police raid in a Paris suburb five days later, and it later emerged the extremists had been planning an attack on Charles de Gaulle, France's biggest international airport.

Islamist militants connected with the Paris terror attacks on November 13 were killed in a police raid in a suburb in the city five days later. Pictured: Bodies are removed from the flat raided by police in Saint-Denis

Airport security has also been raised since it emerged the Russian passenger plane brought down over Egypt was likely to have been the result of a homemade bomb planted on board the jet by an airport worker. 

The Metrojet airliner exploded over Egypt's Sinai desert in October, killing all 224 people onboard.