Killer was hired as Air France guard

Killer was hired as Air France guard
Paul Webster in Paris

Wednesday December 31, 2003
The Guardian

The company put in charge of security for Air France flights employed a
convicted murderer and a number of others with serious criminal records,
it emerged yesterday.

The background of the guards was disclosed in a Paris court during a
hearing to wind up the company, Pretory, which had been operating
security on the French airline for more than two years but went into
bankruptcy after tax fraud allegations.

The revelation of its lax recruiting methods coincided with the
disclosure that armed French police have been flying with Air France to
the US since December 23.

The government ordered the use of the gendarmerie after the US said that
flights without armed escorts would be banned from overflying or
landing, because of the fear of terrorism.

Last week Air France cancelled six transatlantic crossings at short
notice after Washington said terrorists might be on board.

The airline refused to make any comment on a possible link with the use
of a dodgy private company.

Four days after the terror attacks in the US on September 11 2001 Air
France was one of the first networks to announce that passengers would
be accompanied by "specially trained agents".

But the tribunal which ordered the company's liquidation heard that, in
a rush to recruit guards, it had taken on disco bouncers, dog handlers,
nigh****chmen, and other staff with little or no experience of arms or
safety procedures.

At one time 200 guards were employed on flights.

An investigation was eventually started last April, when the police
looked into the background of 140 agents, the most qualified of whom
were former soldiers.

As a result of a search of criminal records more than 30 agents were
grounded as a potential security risk.

The police also looked into the record of Pretory's sub-contractors.

This led to unconfirmed reports that some guards had been sent for arms
training courses in Middle Eastern countries suspected of harbouring
terrorists.

A few weeks before yesterday's liquidation hearing Air France announced
that it was ending the contract with Pretory from today.

But by then the company had run into legal trouble because of its
non-payment of social security charges and alleged tax frauds amounting
to about €4.5m (=A33m).

American anxiety about the quality of Air France's protection service
was at the centre of discussions in Washington this week.
French diplomats gave assurances that the Pretory recruits had been
replaced by police from the SAS-style intervention group, GIGN.

According to police sources two to six gendarmes accompany every flight
to and from the US, depending on the number of passengers.

One guard is assigned to the cockpit. The men's main weapons are
electric stun guns and other non-lethal arms.

"These men have received special training," a member of the force said.

"In fact, we have been testing this sort of airline security for years." =