Around 14,000 people have reached Europe illegally in 2021. We often hear about Harraga’s operations being carried out by boat, but immigrating illegally on a plane is a first for Algeria, especially if the affair is conceived by young people, not to say minors.
On Saturday, April 9, 2022, the border police services arrested two young men in their twenties, who were preparing to hide in the lower recesses of a plane at Constantine Mohamed BOUDIAF airport, to be able to immigrate clandestinely and very probably via France.
Even more in detail, the two young men are acquaintances of the 16-year-old young Aymen, who succeeded, on March 9, 2022, in thwarting all the police checks at Constantine airport to secretly board a flight to Paris.
However, these two young illegal immigrants did not succeed in their operation and were arrested by the security services before infiltrating one of the planes. An investigation was launched by the authorities concerned and the two defendants were placed in police custody before being able to present themselves to court.
They followed in the footsteps of young Aymen
As a reminder, an adventure of this type has already been experienced by the Algerian airline. Indeed, a young Algerian minor managed to access the baggage hold of the company. On Wednesday, March 9, Aymen, just 16 years old, managed to escape all police checks at Constantine – Mohamed Boudiaf airport, located in northeastern Algeria. This by having access, to begin with, to the tarmac.
A beginning of clandestine operation which had thus led it to embark, in all tranquility, in a plane that left for Paris. Locked between a pile of suitcases for more than two hours, he then took the risk of embarking on a dangerous journey. Although Algerian airports have long been considered to be among the most secure and guarded in the world, this illegal teenager was only noticed when the Air Algerie flight landed.
On the contrary, it was actually the security officers at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport who were able to spot him. In addition to the human tragedy which Aymen and Algeria narrowly escaped, this case testifies to a major security flaw at Constantine airport. It raises many disturbing questions. They relate to the professionalism of several agents.
An investigation has been opened
The General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) was responsible for investigating to determine the circumstances of this illegal boarding. However, the latter did not reject the possibility of finding one or more accomplices in Aymen’s file. In accordance with the first elements of the police investigation, several police officers at Constantine – Mohamed Boudiaf airport were detained.
