Newsstand - Armed Men Stopped From Boarding Plane to Israel

Armed Men Stopped From Boarding Plane to Israel

Two men armed with a knife and a pistol were stopped trying to board a German plane bound for Tel Aviv last week, but escaped by saying they were undercover security agents, an airline official said Friday.

German national airline Lufthansa said one of its security officials said he had caught the men trying to get on the plane as it was being prepared for departure to Israel at Frankfurt airport last Saturday.

``We believe our employee and are taking the matter very seriously,'' Lufthansa spokesman Thomas Jachnow said.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-germany-israel-security.html

German magazines now write that this was a test.

http://www.heute.t-online.de/ZDFheute/artikel/0,1367,MAG-0-2016534,00.html

Now Lufthansa says: "We don't have any information that it was a test!"

Lufthansa liegt keine offizielle Nachricht über Sicherheitstest vor

Frankfurt/Main (dpa) - Verwirrung um die angebliche Entführung eines Flugzeugs in Frankfurt: Die Lufthansa geht davon aus, dass es keine Übung war. Weder von den Sicherheitsbehörden noch vom Bundesverkehrsministerium liege eine solche offizielle Information vor, sagt ein Sprecher. Das Ministerium hatte dagegen mitgeteilt, es habe sich um einen Test gehandelt. Nach Zeitungsberichten sollen Sicherheitskräfte der Lufthansa am Samstag die Entführung eines Airbus mit Ziel Tel Aviv verhindert haben.

I like the part that while they were verifying "it's a test" over the phone that they two slipped away into an airside airport car and weren't seen again...

So much for detaining suspicous people until their stories check out.

I have to tell you, I am disappointed. If there was one nation where I expected security to be done right, it would be Germany. Culturally, they tend to be sticklers for the rules and they do not like it when folks deviate from it.

mdtony,

just get a yellow LH company chipcard or copy one, and no-one in FRA will ever check you for weapons or bombs before entering the airfield or aircraft. forget it, there is no security.
I once complained to the security personnel while I was screened and a couple of LH people just went through the security bridge (beeping like hell) waving to the security people and that was it.

Regarding security, I'd agree that the popular belief is that Germans are such sticklers and so on - yet remember the Munich Olympics! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Surely the next World Cup in Germany will be different!

Don't be fooled by US airports either. There are back ways onto most facilities - although these are known and it's against procedure to use these routes (e.g. when freight is being delivered for airport concessions, etc). Some airports take restaurant/shop freight in through unscreened random checked areas, other through the standard checkpoint. No concistency. Most airports want workers pushing/pulling these items to go through a chekpoint, but ANYTHING could be placed into these items if they don't clear a checkpoint before going into sterile areas.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by NickP 1K:

Don't be fooled by US airports either. There are back ways onto most facilities - although these are known and it's against procedure to use these routes (e.g. when freight is being delivered for airport concessions, etc). Some airports take restaurant/shop freight in through unscreened random checked areas, other through the standard checkpoint. No concistency. Most airports want workers pushing/pulling these items to go through a chekpoint, but ANYTHING could be placed into these items if they don't clear a checkpoint before going into sterile areas.</font>

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Sad but true, I fear! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

They still don't know if it was a "test" or not, and who where the 4 people who arrived in a car with airport license plates wanted to enter the 340-300. When LH security people found a knife and a fake (or gas?) gun/revolver, they said "You passed the test!" and drove away. No agency - police, airport security other - was involved.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by USAFAN:
They still don't know if it was a "test" or not, and who where the 4 people who arrived in a car with airport license plates wanted to enter the 340-300. When LH security people found a knife and a fake (or gas?) gun/revolver, they said "You passed the test!" and drove away. No agency - police, airport security other - was involved.</font>

LOL, this is really encouraging. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

d

I was actually at FRA on Sat and can say the security wasn't anything special that I could see. They did, however, have the FRA-IAD flight at the far end of the terminal and started boarding 1 hour before departure so passengers could go through additional screening, much as they do to flights to DCA from various airports.

Tom