Swiss identify 22 people as national security risks
Security checks were made on 1.3 million air passengers last year
Keystone
Last year the Federal Intelligence Service identified 22 people as threats to national security, mostly via their alleged links to Islamic terrorism, out of 2.1 million people screened, a Swiss newspaper reports. The number of security checks has risen steeply.
This content was published on
2 minutes
swissinfo.ch with agencies
According to the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper, the Federal Intelligence Service carried out background checks on 2.1 million people in 2015 – 1.3 million air passengers, 730,000 who had filed visa requests, 50,000 who had filed naturalization requests, 4,900 asylum seekers and 6,600 other foreigners.
The checks revealed 22 people who were considered a threat to national security.
“The vast majority of the cases are linked to Islamic terrorism,” the Federal Intelligence Service spokesperson Carolina Bohren told NZZ am Sonntag.
Nine of the suspects were asylum seekers who had travelled to Switzerland, four had applied for visas, five were interested in traveling to Switzerland to obtain a residence permit, and two had applied for Swiss citizenship.
The intelligence service asked all relevant authorities to block all attempts to gain entry to Switzerland as well as visa or asylum requests, the NZZ reported. No further details were given regarding the suspects’ identities, nor information on the follow-up of individual cases.
In 2015, the intelligence service screened almost six times more people than in 2011 – 350,000. The increase is mainly related to more checks on air passengers. The data was recently published in the cabinet’s annual report.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Islamic State verdicts mark ‘turning point’
This content was published on
Leading Swiss papers have welcomed the Federal Criminal Court’s ‘exemplary’ convictions of foreign Islamist militants, accused of planning a terror attack in Switzerland as part of the Islamic State group.
Court finds three Iraqis guilty of Islamic State support
This content was published on
It was the first time a guilty verdict had been pronounced in Switzerland related to Islamic State activities. The three individuals found guilty were all sentenced to prison terms, the longest of which will last four years and eight months. The judges ruled that the three guilty Iraqis had been trying to bring information,…
Files reveal Swiss links to Islamic State fighters
This content was published on
The huge haul of papers documenting 22,000 IS recruits was first seen by German reporters before being handed to Swiss public television, SRF, and the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper. They give real names, the fighting pseudonyms of individuals, their religious experience, family details, where they are from and have lived and whether they have volunteered as fighters…
This content was published on
Starting on September 1, passengers departing from Swiss airports may have their hands swabbed to look for signs of explosives. The new policy comes following a bilateral air travel security agreement with the European Union.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.