EasyJet staff are on high alert after Arabic graffiti was found daubed next to fuel tanks on four jets parked at French airports. Airline workers have been warned to take extra precautions around Europe after the messages were found on supposedly secure parts of the planes. The finds, made at different French locations within the past week, have sparked fears that something more dangerous than writing could be planted on a plane in future. The scare comes less than a month after a Russian passenger jet headed home from Egypt was destroyed in mid-air.
ISIS claimed responsibility, saying their extremists brought down the flight out of Sharm el-Sheikh with a bomb disguised as a drinks can. The explosion killed all 224 people on board, most of whom were Russian holidaymakers.
It is not clear what the graffiti on the planes said. Writing was found on a toilet door as well as on panels next to the fuel tanks. Officials have also declined to specify which airports the planes were at for security reasons. EasyJet flies to 18 locations in France. French police and easyJet security staff are hunting for the culprits. Employees were alerted to the graffiti by the company's cabin safety manager, who urged that 'everyone be vigilant', particularly with the climate of fear in Europe after terror attacks in Paris and fears of a strike on Brussels.
A spokesman for easyJet said: 'EasyJet assessed this issue, each time working in full consultation with the authorities, and is entirely satisfied it is nothing more than graffiti.
'EasyJet takes very seriously any security related issue and would not operate a flight unless we are entirely satisfied it is completely safe to do so.
Philip Baum, editor of Aviation Security International, told The Sun: 'Graffiti in itself won't hurt anybody. But the ability of anyone to place a prohibited item near fuel tanks is a concern, of course.'
'We know there are people working in restricted areas of airports with extremist sympathies.'
Source: DailyMail
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