Mumbai (AFP) – A plane that was grounded for days in France over concerns it was part of a human trafficking scheme landed in India on Tuesday. The passengers dodged media questions as they quickly exited the busy Mumbai airport.
Issued on: December 26, 2023 – 8:43 a.m. Modified: 12/26/2023 – 8:42 a.m
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The Airbus A340 was originally en route to Nicaragua when it was detained last Thursday at Vatry airport, east of Paris, where it had stopped to refuel.
It had arrived from the United Arab Emirates and was stopped after an anonymous tip that it was carrying potential human trafficking victims.
Of the original 303 people on the passenger list, 276 were on the plane that arrived in Mumbai before dawn on Tuesday.
Four hours later, passengers began to enter the hall but refused to speak to the large crowd of waiting journalists and covered their faces to hide their identities.
It was unclear whether the arrivals were questioned by authorities and the Indian government has not yet issued a statement on their return.
Among those who remained in France were two people who were questioned by the police there on suspicion of human trafficking.
According to a judicial source, they were released after it was determined that the passengers had boarded the plane of their own free will.
French authorities continue to investigate the case for a possible violation of immigration laws, but no longer for human trafficking, judicial sources said.
Another 25 passengers sought asylum in France, including five minors, local officials said.
A source familiar with the investigation told AFP that the passengers on board were likely workers in the UAE en route to Nicaragua, which they planned to use as a stopover for trips to the United States or Canada.
Approval for the plane's departure from France came after a court ruled that any further detention of three of its passengers was illegal.
The plane was grounded at Vatry airport, east of Paris © FRANCOIS NASCIMBENI / AFP/File
The passengers of the flight operated by the Romanian airline Legend Airlines were accommodated at Vatry airport during the investigation.
Beds, toilets and showers had been installed, the local prefecture said, while police barred press and outsiders from entering the airport.
According to the Paris prosecutor's office, eleven unaccompanied minors were among the passengers.
The Indian Embassy in Paris posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday that it was grateful for the “quick resolution” of the incident.
The 30 crew members were not arrested. Some had taken over the Dubai-Vatry route, while others were supposed to take over the flight to Nicaragua.
“Mutual benefit”
The use of charter flights to assist migrants “is a relatively new phenomenon,” Manuel Orozco, director of migration issues at the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue, told AFP last month.
Orozco said he believes airlines and Nicaraguan airport authorities have made “an economic calculation” for “mutual benefit.”
Indian Deputy Foreign Minister V. Muraleedharan told Parliament this month that nearly 100,000 illegal Indian migrants have attempted to enter the United States this year, citing U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
The problem came to public attention last year when four Indians froze to death while trying to cross on foot from the Canadian border to the United States.
They were part of a group of eleven people who wanted to make the trip; the remaining seven were arrested by the US authorities.
Many Indian migrants seek to travel to the United States for economic reasons.
But human rights experts say several other factors are at play, including repression of minority communities in India and extreme visa backlogs.
Illegal Indian migration abroad is such a well-established phenomenon that it forms the backdrop to the Bollywood comedy “Dunki,” which hit theaters last week.
Starring Shah Rukh Khan, one of India's most wealthy film stars, “Dunki” looks at the various means by which Indians make the dangerous journey to the West with the help of unscrupulous agents and corrupt border officials.
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© 2023 AFP