PARIS, FRANCE - FRENCH police escorting illegal immigrants back to their homelands on Air France and other flights are benefiting from frequent flyer 'air miles", the interior ministry said on Wednesday.

'This system is not illegal' said the satirical French newspaper Le Canard which broke the story.

'Due to 23,000 expulsions in 2007 and given that on average three police officers accompany the person being expelled, this makes for a nice amount of free trips at the cost of illegal immigrants,' said the newspaper.

Air France, which transports most of the illegal immigrants being kicked out of the country, refused to comment.

In July 2007, several Air France-KLM unions tried in vain to convince airline officials and shareholders to stop using its aircraft for expulsions. -- AFP