France was on Monday left red-faced after an Algerian minister was searched at a Paris airport, with the foreign ministry pledging to ensure such an “unfortunate incident” would not be repeated according to AFP
French ambassador was summoned by Algeria to protest the search that officials at the Orly airport insisted on body searching the Communications Minister Hamid Grine even though he holds a diplomatic passport.
An Algerian Newspaper Libetre reports that Grine was asked by the border police to undergo a search when he was at the airport’s lounge. His official mission letter and diplomatic passport didn’t stop the border police from searching him.
The foreign ministry in Paris apologized for the actions of it airport authorities and said it is working towards ensuring that the mistake does not happen again in the future.
“We are working with the interior ministry and the management of Aeroports de Paris to make sure this type of particularly unfortunate incident does not happen again,” ministry spokesperson Romain Nadal told reporters
France is working towards facilitating the travel of senior foreign officials in France according to the ministry spokesperson
Algeria foreign ministry condemned the treatment sighting other two earlier cases where Industry Minister Abdeslam Bouchouareb and Housing Minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune were treated in the same manner.
