ANCHISE Demonstration for Law Enforcement Agencies in Paris Airport

On Friday 28 March 2025, a Second ANCHISE Demonstration dedicated to Law Enforcement Agencies took place in Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, Roissy (France). This experience came as the result of a long-term process following ANCHISE first Demonstration in Thessaloniki, Greece

One major difference with the previous Demonstration in Greece lays in the fact that the latter gathered an interdisciplinary audience around the whole ANCHISE toolkit, whereas Paris Demonstration targeted a more Law Enforcement Agencies-specialised audience (mainly Customs and Police forces), gathering more than 40 stakeholders from 4 European countries. Proposing a more sector-based and tailor-made approach offered the opportunity to address Law Enforcement’s requirements more in detail, collecting tailor-made feedbacks on each of the technological tools demonstrated. Furthermore, holding an ANCHISE Demonstration in the unique framework of Roissy Airport has allowed addressing challenges of a significant air frontier in a very immersive working environment, a point deeply appreciated by the attendees.

We are deeply grateful to the Paris Airports Interregional Directorate for hosting these sessions, within a highly relevant and sensitive environment. ANCHISE expresses also its sincere thanks to OCBC (Central Office against illicit trafficking of Cultural Property) for their involvement in this decisive moment of the project.

Benjamin Omer (Ecole française d’Athènes) and Marine Lechenault (ENSP) welcomed the audience on behalf of ANCHISE consortium. Mr Gilbert Beltran, Inter-regional Customs Director of Paris Airports, opened the session by an inspiring welcome speech, also reminding the symbol behind our project’s name: Anchise, Aeneas’s beloved father, saved by the latter from death and destruction, as the younger carrying the elder on his shoulders. Then Mr Christophe Verbois, Regional Customs Inspector, delivered a contextual approach of the Demonstration in Roissy Airport and an overview of cultural heritage protection in that sense.

Following those introductive speeches, the audience split in two smaller groups as the workshops dedicated to ANCHISE technological tools began. The morning was busy with PARCS’s Arte-Fact (by Patrice Le Loarer and Axel Kerep) and Fraunhofer’s Kiku-Mon (by Huajian Liu). Demonstrations of ICCS’s ART-CH (by Evgenia Adamopoulou and Nikos Peppes) and INOV Spectroscopy took place in the afternoon. Each tool’s workshop lasted 45 minutes, allowing direct exchanges between stakeholders and technological teams, plus 15 additional minutes dedicated to forms filled by participants. The last part of the event included a Focus Group session, gathering all stakeholders and aiming to collect their feedbacks through a transversal approach. 

The day ended on conclusive remarks shared by Mariana Vasilache (University Lyon 2). The analysis of Roissy Demonstration’s outcomes is currently ongoing. The lessons learnt should pave the way towards the next Demonstrations scheduled in the project.