PARIS (AP) — A seized charter plane carrying 303 Indians to Nicaragua was granted permission Sunday to leave the French airport, where it was grounded for four days amid a human trafficking investigation. A lawyer for the airline said the plane would take many of the stranded passengers back to India on Monday.
Local authorities were working on formalities until Christmas Eve to allow some passengers to leave the small Vatry airport in Champagne, regional prosecutor Annick Browne told The Associated Press. All passengers, including a 21-month-old child, had been stuck in the airport terminal since Thursday.
Two passengers were arrested as part of a special French investigation on suspicion of human trafficking by an organized criminal group. Several others sought asylum in France, according to local authorities. According to the public prosecutor's office, eleven passengers were unaccompanied minors who were placed under special administrative supervision.
The Legend Airlines A340 aircraft stopped for refueling in Vatry on Thursday en route from Fujairah Airport in the United Arab Emirates to Managua, Nicaragua, and was intercepted by police following an anonymous tip that it may be carrying victims of human trafficking Ground held.
The airport was seized by police for days and then turned into a makeshift courtroom on Sunday as judges, lawyers and translators filled the terminal to hold emergency hearings to decide whether the Indians should remain sequestered longer.
The hearings were stopped midway due to a dispute over the procedure for blocking Indians at the airport and a decision on next steps was expected overnight, the prosecutor said on Sunday.
The plane's seizure order was lifted on Sunday morning, a decision that “considers rerouting passengers in the waiting area,” according to a statement from the Marne administration.
The French civil aviation authority then set about obtaining the necessary authorizations for the plane to take off again, which the prefecture said should be available “no later than Monday morning”.
Emergency vehicles park in front of Vatry airport, eastern France, Saturday, December 23, 2023 in Vatry, eastern France. About 300 Indian citizens bound for Central America were detained at a French airport for a third day on Saturday as part of an investigation into suspected human trafficking, authorities said. According to a lawyer for the small Romanian airline, the 15 crew members of the Legend Airlines charter flight en route from the United Arab Emirates to Nicaragua were questioned and released. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Legend Airlines lawyer Liliana Bakayoko told the AP that the company hopes the plane can fly to Mumbai, India, on Monday “with as many passengers as possible.”
She estimated that around 280 passengers could leave. The public prosecutor's office and regional administration were unable to confirm an exact number.
Local officials, medics and volunteers set up cots and provided regular meals and showers for those held at the airport. But lawyers protested at the hearings on Sunday against the authorities' general handling of the strange situation.
“I'm surprised at how things turned out in the waiting area. “People should have been informed of their rights and that was obviously not the case,” Francois Procureur, president of the Châlons-en-Champagne bar association, told BFM television. He described the mass, rushed hearings at the airport as “unprecedented.”
Police officers stand near an emergency vehicle outside Vatry Airport, eastern France, in Vatry, eastern France, on Saturday, December 23, 2023. About 300 Indian citizens bound for Central America were detained at a French airport for a third day on Saturday as part of an investigation into suspected human trafficking, authorities said. According to a lawyer for the small Romanian airline, the 15 crew members of the Legend Airlines charter flight en route from the United Arab Emirates to Nicaragua were questioned and released. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Foreigners in France can be detained in a transit zone for up to four days for police investigations. A special judge must then decide whether the deadline should be extended by eight days.
Prosecutors declined to comment on what type of trafficking was involved or whether the passengers' final destination was the United States, where there has been a surge in the number of Indians crossing the Mexico-U.S. border this year.
The 15 crew members were questioned and released on Saturday, Bakayoko said. She said the airline denied any involvement in possible human trafficking. A “partner” company that chartered the plane was responsible for verifying each passenger's identification documents and provided the airline with their passport information 48 hours before the flight, Bakayoko said.
The U.S. government has classified Nicaragua as one of several countries that do not meet minimum standards to combat human trafficking. Due to relaxed or visa-free entry requirements for some countries, Nicaragua has also been used as a migration springboard for people fleeing poverty or conflict. Charter flights are sometimes used to get there.
In the US government's fiscal year ended September 30, Indian citizens were arrested 41,770 times while entering the US from Mexico illegally, more than double the 18,308 the previous year. ___
Morton reported from London. Associated Press journalist Jeffrey Schaeffer in Paris contributed to this report.