MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Switzerland’s federal intelligence agency NDB ran security checks on over 2 million people last year and identified 22 persons who presented a national security risk, local media reported Sunday.
"The majority of the cases are linked to Islamist terrorism and to the Syrian conflict," NDB spokeswoman Carolina Bohren told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper, adding that all cases raised "relevant security concerns."
Of those detected, nine were asylum seekers, four applied for a visa, five sought other type of entry or residence permit, and two were already living in the country and applied for naturalization.
The number of security checks in Switzerland spiked last year after the country started processing air passengers. A total of 2.08 million people were screened in 2015, six times the number checked in 2011. Over a million of them were air travelers.
