France's anti-terror police and DST counter-espionage agency began an investigation yesterday after a man apparently tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight despite having gone through airport security in Paris.
The investigation, revealed by judicial sources, will run in tandem with a separate inquiry by the Air and Frontier Police (PAF) into how the man passed security checks and boarded a plane to Miami on Saturday with explosives hidden in his shoes.
The anti-terror probe would investigate the unidentified suspect and his possible links to underground organisations in France and Europe before boarding the plane, the sources said.
The PAF would focus on security procedures at Charles de Gaulle airport at Roissy, Paris's main international hub.
PAF officials said they could not explain how the man, who was overpowered by flight attendants and passengers aboard American Airlines Flight 63 and arrested when the plane made an emergency landing in Boston, could have eluded detection.
They could not confirm a Boston Globe newspaper report that the man had tried to board the same scheduled flight from Paris on Friday but had been turned away for some unknown reason.
Clearly embarrassed, PAF officials disputed suggestions in the French media that their security checks were deficient.
Mr Patrick Rouby, PAF chief at the airport, cast doubt on the exact nature of the substance found in the man's shoes, which airport officials in Boston - where the plane landed - said appeared to be similar to the C4 military explosive.
"There is a doubt about the nature of this substance," Mr Rouby told France 2 television. The PAF has opened an inquiry into the security measures at the airport.
Asked if there were gaps in the measures taken in Paris since the September 11th attacks in the US, he said: "You cannot speak of gaps. On the contrary - there has been an enormous increase in security measures." But he added: "It is clear there can be an unforeseen turn of events."
"I cannot explain this situation," another PAF official, Mr Joel Dorne, told France Inter radio when asked about the fake British passport the man was said to have used. "In principle, it is not possible to pass police controls with such documents, especially for flights considered sensitive after September 11th - unless the forgery is perfect."
Paris terminals had no plan to follow the example of Boston's Logan airport and ask passengers to put their shoes through X-ray machines to check for possible bombs, Mr Rouby said.
"For now, Roissy does not plan any extra security measures," Mr Dorne said. "We have alerted the airlines, the security companies and our reinforced staff to be particularly vigilant about this type of clothing." American travellers lining up for trans-Atlantic flights were not impressed with security measures at Charles de Gaulle. "They should check everybody for their shoes," said Mr Frederick Allardyce. "They should put their shoes through the check-in, just like the baggage. Why should they allow anybody to carry anything on?" "It's time to get serious," he said. "Paris should get serious just like America's serious."
"You would hope that security would be a little better," another passenger said.