Inquiry Launched at Athens Airport

Greek authorities Sunday began investigating what led up to the hijacking of an Egyptian jetliner 20 minutes after it left Athens airport. The airport was the target of a security crackdown after a TWA flight originating there was hijacked five months ago.

“We have started looking into the event (the Saturday hijacking), but it is still too early to draw any conclusions,” said a senior police official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. He said he did not believe that the hijackers smuggled their weapons on board the plane in Athens. “The passengers go through two security checks, ours and the airline’s,” he said.

Last June 14, two Shia Muslim gunmen hijacked a Rome-bound Trans World Airlines Boeing 727 carrying 153 people after it took off from Athens airport. One passenger, an American, was killed before the ordeal ended June 30. A security crackdown at the Athens airport followed, after which both the International Air Transport Assn. and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration praised it as “probably one of the world’s best-guarded airports.”

Western diplomats in Athens, insisting on anonymity, say security problems persist at Athens airport and cite what they say is an inadequate fence around the airport perimeter as a major problem. Police say the perimeter is being heavily patrolled pending completion of a new, high-security fence later this year.