Rediff
 
Paris, Nov 4: Some 72 airport staff, most of them Muslims, have been stripped of their security clearance at France's main airport, Charles de Gaulle in Paris. They pose a risk because of alleged links to groups with "potentially terrorist aims", the BBC quoted French officials as saying.

Those affected include baggage handlers, security agents, drivers, cleaners and clerks. Most have been suspended from their jobs after an investigation by security agencies on the orders of the Interior Ministry last May.

While the majority were Muslims, ten were Tamils and one was a Sikh, an official was quoted as saying. 
Several of those who have lost their clearances had made visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan and some were believed to have spent time at terrorist training camps, police have reported. 

One was a friend of Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber" now serving a life sentence in America for attempting to blow up a Paris-New York flight, French authorities said.

The Times, London quoted French official Jean-Francois Cordet saying that the security services believed that the suspended men represented a "significant danger" and had been unable to prove that they did not threaten airport security.

A total of 200 cases have been investigated since May, with 57,000 airport passes having been issued since January. 

Trade unions and lawyers for the suspended workers have gone to court, arguing that the removal of their security badges was illegal because there was no proof of malicious intent and because they had been required to prove their innocence in interviews and through screening checks. Eric Moutet, a lawyer for several of the suspended men, said that it was not clear what criteria were being used to exclude workers, The Times reported.

A local court is to hear a complaint by 11 airport workers for wrongful dismissal on November 10.