France’s airports have received 60 bomb threats in the last three days, French Transport Minister Clement Beaune said on Friday.
"A total of 17 airports received bomb threats on Wednesday. ... Yesterday, on Thursday, 25 airports received bomb threats. And today, since early in the morning, 18 airports have been affected," he said on air of the BFMTV broadcaster.
As a result, 44 evacuations were carried out from Wednesday to Friday, Beaune said. The minister described the situation as unacceptable and called on the airports to report to the police each time fake bomb threats were received. Such a violation is punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine totaling tens of thousands of euros, the minister said. He also vowed to hold the offenders liable.
France has recently seen a rise in the number of hoax bomb and terror threats. On Wednesday, 15 airports across France were evacuated, with several others the next day. Visitors at the Palace of Versailles were evacuated four times this week, while the Louvre was forced to close for security reasons.
The incidents came as France introduced a maximum terrorist threat regime following a deadly attack on a lycee in the city of Arras in the Pas-de-Calais department last week.