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PARIS AIRPORT: Ready-to-use explosives seized

By Vaiju Naravane

Paris Dec. 30 . A man arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris late Saturday with a carload of explosives has been identified as Abderazak Besseghir, a 27-year-old French citizen of Algerian descent. Police sources said in Paris today that he had a "ready to use'' bomb in the boot of his car. Police also found an automatic pistol, a sub machine gun, four bars of plastic explosives and two detonators in the boot of his car.

The man who works as a baggage handler at Charles de Gaulle, one of Europe's busiest airports had no previous criminal record and was not known to the police. As a baggage handler, he had access to several sensitive zones of the airport.

Abderezak's father, two brothers and a family friend have also been arrested and detained for questioning. Investigators told journalists that they had yet to establish a clear motive for his actions, but say a number of documents seized at Besseghir's residence were "Islamic in nature''. Police however have not ruled the possibility that Bessaghir belonged to an arms smuggling ring or was involved in other types of criminal activity. It is reported that Besseghir was not being cooperative with the police. The police were alerted by a passenger who spotted a weapon in the car. Paris airport has been the object of an intense security overhaul ever since Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber'' managed to get on board a plane for Miami. . Several dozen employees of the airport have had their accesses badges to sensitive zones withdrawn. Some of them because of previous convictions, others because of links to suspected terrorists. One of those who lost his access badge worked at the airport control tower. He was accused of having close links with Islamic fundamentalists.

Besseghir was arrested in the airport parking lot as he was getting into his car. Besseghir is not known to be close to Islamic militants, on whom police keep a close watch.

Police have cracked down on Islamic fundamentalists in France in recent weeks. Since December 16, nine persons have been arrested from the suburbs of La Courneuve and Romainville, both ghettoes peopled mainly by North African Arabs, with raids on two apartments. According to an Interior Ministry communiqué, the residents of these flats were in an advanced stage of planning a terrorist attack. Explosive material and incendiary devices were recovered from the two flats, police said.

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