Trans-Gendarme: Muslim Cops Radicalized, French Authorities Turn a Blind Eye
SPUTNIK NEWS
A total of 17 police officers were radicalized in greater Paris between 2012 and 2015, according to a book released by French journalists Christophe Dubois and Eric Pelletier.
In a book titled ‘Where Have Our Spies Gone? Small and Big Secrets of French Intelligence‘, journalists Christophe Dubois and Eric Pelletier claimed that a total of 17 Muslim police officers were radicalized in the greater Paris region, Ile-de-France, between 2012 and 2015.
The authors of the book reveal that the counter-terrorism activities of French special services had suffered from ‘gaps’ and that French authorities had turned a blind eye to the radicalization of young, French-born Muslims.
Ile-de-France police © FLICKR/ PATRICK JANICEK
In the book, the journalists said that instead of focusing on protecting national law and order, some rogue French policemen engage in Islamic proselytism and justify terrorism. Some officers pray openly in the streets and abuse their position.
In an interview with Sputnik France, Christophe Dubois, however, warned against overdramatizing the religious leanings of the policemen.
“Although it does not turn them into terrorists, it may be the first signs of radicalization leading to more serious things,” Dubois said, referring to a female police officer in Paris who called for violence against the French government on her Facebook page.
Also alarming is that this phenomenon isn’t limited to the French police, the authors of the book said. They noted that there were at least one hundred cases of radicalization in the country’s Defense, Interior and Justice Ministries.
“France’s state services reflect how radicalization is making progress in our society. So the news about some police officers in Paris being radicalized is not surprising as such.”
In their book, the authors managed to depict a typical image of civil servants who have been radicalized. “They are young people who joined the police force in the mid-2000s. While police officers, they won internal competitions because many of them used to be junior security officers,” according to the authors.
They also pointed out that the radicalization only affects the police and that it is “marginal” in its nature.
“It is not the fifth column infiltrating intelligence services. We are dealing with a phenomenon that is happening under the close supervision of special services, such as the internal police force,” the authors said.
On November 13, 2015, terrorists conducted a number of coordinated attacks in the French capital, killing 130 people and injuring over 360. The terrorist group Daesh, which is outlawed in many countries including Russia, claimed responsibility for the attacks.
On July 14, 2016 France was rocked by another deadly Daesh attack, when a truck rammed into a large crowd that was celebrating Bastille Day in Nice. At least 84 people, including children, were killed and over 300 people were injured.
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