France deploys armed undercover agents on trains to prevent terrorist attacks

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In a bid to prevent terror attacks aboard French trains, the National Gendarmerie, one of the two national police forces of France, has launched a counterterrorism operation wherein members of the national gendarmerie intervention group (GIGN) will be travelling every day on these trains undercover and will take action in case of an attack.

As per a report by RT, this operation will be run under the code name ‘Train Marshal’ and will be launched on Thursday.

The members of the GIGN will be adept at managing terrorist attacks, hostage rescue operations, and surveillance of threats to national security.

The report quoted Colonel Ghislain Rety, the Commander of France’s National Gendarmerie as saying, “[The train marshals] will be travelling every single day, and board passenger trains operating nationwide. They will change their travel itinerary depending on the threat level.”

He also added that the primary objective of the operation is to be effective and reassure the general public and that the agents would mingle with people and intervene only in the event of a terrorist attack.

In 2015, a terrorist attack on a Thalys train by a 25-year-old Moroccan, Ayoub El Khazzani was prevented by three Americans, a Briton, and a Frenchman, who managed to subdue the attacker since they were travelling in the train carriage.

Commander Rety added that this incident was a motivating factor for the operation. It is also inspired by the US Federal Air Marshal Service who make their agents travel incognito aboard the US commercial flights.

The operation ‘Train Marshal’ has been tested in the French National Railway Company (SNCF) venues in 2017.