Pave: Défaillances dans la sécurisation

Le jour 431 de Sarko

28 KILOS D'EXPLOSIFS VOLÉS
SUR UN SITE DE LA SÉCURITÉ CIVILE
[28 KILOS OF EXPLOSIVES STOLEN
FROM CIVILIAN SECURITY SITE]
18 juillet 2008 (20minutes)

Heavy-handed security is the rule in France. And it has, to date, spared France. All of which makes this lapse all the more curious.

LARGE SEMTEX CACHE STOLEN IN FRANCE

July 19, 2008 (Telegraph) - The 28 kilograms [61.6 pounds] of the explosive were discovered to be missing yesterday along with an unknown quantity of detonators, but the Interior Ministry said they could have been taken more than a week ago.

The Lyon depot is situated in a disused 19th century castle at Corbas near Lyon and is used by a civil defence unit to store explosives needed for bomb disposal workers. [The Interior Ministry] said there had been "security failings" [défaillances dans la sécurisation de ce site] which gave the thieves their chance.

... The Semtex is now being searched for by French anti-terrorist police who fear it could be used to attack civilian targets. Semtex is favoured by terrorists because it is powerful, has no smell and is almost impossible to detect.

"The investigation has to find out how they could have been stolen," a police source said.

How? [Pause.] Here is a clue.

MISSING EXPLOSIVES SITE
HAD NO PROTECTION: POLICE CHIEF

PARIS July 19, 2008 (AFP) — The stockage of 28 kilos (62 pounds) of Semtex along with detonators at Corbas, near Lyon in southeast France, "was not usual, and certainly not authorised," Xavier de Fuerst [the regional official in charge of security] said.

He told AFP the site, a former fort, had been sold by the defence ministry to the interior ministry in 2005.

"At the time it was protected by cameras but now there are only the shells. Work was planned in 2009 to put back the cameras and strengthen the entrances."

De Fuerst said the fort was ideal for storing explosives, as there was no threat to local people, but staff had "lowered their guard through overconfidence."

While the presence of the explosives would only have been known to the dozen or so personnel using the site, "ill-intentioned people could have observed their comings and goings" and deduced what was there.

"The explosives had probably been there since the beginning of 2008. The commander of the centre had anticipated the fact that he would have official authorisation by the end of 2009, but the security measures were not in place," de Fuerst said.

He said neither the local authorities nor the police had been aware that the explosives were there.

Thierry Butin, the mayor of Corbas:

I am extremely surprised and angry that from one day to the next you can store products as dangerous as this, without any protection.

How could this theft have happened? Hhmmm. The total absence of security might explain it. [Pause.] Just a guess.

PFFT (What is this?): It's a mystery how these things happen 0 | Rayonnement français 0