President Tebboune's unbelievable reaction to the incredible journey of a young migrant on the landing gear of a plane from Oran to Paris

On Thursday 28 December 2023, between 10.30am and 11am, at Paris-Orly airport, during the "technical checks" of the plane that had just arrived from Oran, the capital of western Algeria, the agents in charge of the checks discovered a young man in "severe hypothermia", reports AFP, which quotes a source close to the case, who confirms that the man, who was "taken to hospital by the fire brigade". The man was between 20 and 30 years old and had no identity papers. He was "taken to hospital by the fire brigade" and "did not die". 

This is not the first case of an Algerian taking the risk of travelling hidden in the landing gear or in the luggage hold of an aircraft.

On 4 June 2022, technical staff at Algiers international airport discovered two dead bodies in the hold of an Air Algérie plane. The two people were illegal migrants who had attempted to cross international borders illegally en route to a foreign country.  The plane was on a flight from Algiers to Barcelona on Friday, but it was not until its return to Algeria that airline employees discovered the two lifeless bodies. 

The two young men are believed to have died of asphyxiation due to lack of air and, above all, the cold in the baggage hold.  The identity of the two corpses has not been revealed at this stage. 

On 9 March 2022, another young Algerian illegal immigrant crossed the border into France in the luggage hold of an Air Algérie plane. 

Leaving Constantine from Mohamed Boudiaf airport, the young man was discovered at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport. 

Named Aymen and aged 16, the young illegal immigrant had risked his life to reach France and was found in a disastrous condition. He was treated by a medical team at the airport, treated and returned to Algeria a few days later. 

Of course, there is no need to go back over the thousands of cases of young and old, men and women who cross the Mediterranean, risking their lives on board ill-fated boats, only to run aground on the northern shore, in Italy or, above all, in Spain. 

The Algerian authorities have never reacted to these cases of clandestine migration. On the contrary, they have always refused to grant them travel documents allowing their repatriation, even when it is the migrants themselves who express their desire to return home. 

Algerians were shocked when the highest state official reacted and instructed the Directorate General of Internal Security (DGSI), whose main mission is to fight espionage, to investigate the matter. 

According to a press release from the Presidency of the Republic, the investigation quickly resulted in the arrest of 17 national police officers, including seven border police officers, the chief of the 2nd border police brigade at Oran airport, the commissioner in charge of security at Oran airport, an Air Algérie mechanic, the technical director of Air Algérie, the director of Oran airport and the regional director of the national airport management company. The communiqué indicates that other officials at central and regional level of the General Directorate of National Security (national police) will be sanctioned. 

At the level of the DGSN, there is a whiff of foul play. It is the head of the national police, Zineddine Farid Bencheikh, who is being targeted. This is what the end of the Presidency's press release suggests. For the rest, there is no justification for such sanctions against officials who have absolutely nothing to do with aircraft control. Officials whose offices are a long way from the runway and, in some cases, the airport. Let us wait and see what happens.