In the face of a looming terrorist threat, TAP has announced the suspension of all flights from Guinea-Bissau. The decision follows frightening scenes at the African country’s airport on Tuesday when a TAP flight crew was forced at gunpoint to carry 74 supposed Syrian refugees on a scheduled flight to Lisbon. As SEF (the frontiers’ authority) explained to Público newspaper, extremists could well have been among the 74 men, women and children flown in on bogus passports.
“Conscious of this risk, SEF is carefully analysing the asylum requests made by the 74 Syrian citizens, who will be heard individually,” writes Público.
Meantime, TAP’s decision leaves Guinea-Bissau without any direct link to Europe.
This will throw a spanner in the works for the illegal immigrant network that has already used Lisbon as a point of entry into Europe.
Público adds that SEF’s suspicions that “elements with radical antecedents” could be among the so-called refugees stem from the fact that “huge sums of money” are invariably demanded to secure travel documents and a route into Europe. The final destination is not, however, Portugal – but a “Northern European country”, says the newspaper.
