The plane landed in Mumbai on Tuesday.
New Delhi:
The lawyer for the airline, whose plane was allegedly used for a “donkey ride” and was grounded in France, claimed that most of the passengers had hotel reservations and return tickets from Nicaragua, the destination for the company. Officials said 299 of the plane's 303 passengers were Indian and the plane was grounded after a tip-off that the fliers were likely victims of human trafficking.
Sources had told AFP that the plane may be linked to a crime syndicate trying to smuggle people into the United States. Nicaragua, a Central American country, has seen a significant increase in the number of Indians trying to enter the US illegally.
Liliana Bakayoko, the lawyer for Romania-based Legend Airlines, spoke exclusively to NDTV on Tuesday: “I am the company’s lawyer. My colleagues who defended the passengers before the judge told the media that all the passengers they had defended had returned tickets. They had hotel reservations and return tickets… I actually don't know when. But not for the next day.
When pointed out that, according to available information, only 12 of the 303 passengers had return tickets, Ms. Bakayoko said: “The company's aircraft was hired by a customer, a foreign company, to operate such flights.” According to my colleagues in France, all the passengers they defended had almost all return tickets and hotel reservations. However, it is true that only three passengers were heard by the judge.”
“Special situation”
Commenting on the sequence of events following the plane's landing in Vatry, France, for refueling on Friday, Ms Bakayoko said it was a special situation as the airline's crew had been instructed to leave the airport, go to a hotel and head for it waiting to testify as witnesses. This, she said, meant leaving the passengers behind and the captain wondered what he should do because he had a duty to the people on the plane.
She said the crew was called two hours later and was very scared because they didn't know exactly what was going on.
“I just advised them to go and tell everything they know. So everyone went there and the interrogations took place. It took hours and they were all able to leave. But the plane was confiscated so we didn't know what to do.” The passengers were all asked to stay in the airport. The plane was later released, but the passengers were still detained. We decided to wait and see what happened to the passengers,” said the lawyer.
Hearings at the airport
Ms Bakayoko said the hearings were held at the airport. Judges went there with lawyers to listen to the passengers, and after three hearings, the judges said the proceedings were irregular.
“Under French law, when the police arrest someone, they are obliged to inform the person of their rights, with a translator if they do not speak French, and with a lawyer. And there were no translators available, there were two translators and one.” “Some of them left for personal reasons. Therefore, translators were not available and it took too long for the local authority to inform the passengers’ rights,” said the lawyer.
“So the judge said that the procedure was irregular for this reason, because people were in the airport, actually for hours, some even for 11 hours, without even knowing what was going on, without understanding the explanations. And no one gave any explanations, “Actually, even in French. These people were afraid. Therefore, the judge ruled that the detention was irregular. The French authorities decided to let everyone go home,” she added.
The lawyer said further problems arose because some of the passengers did not want to fly to India, where the plane landed on Tuesday.
“India was the country that was ready to receive the passengers very quickly. The United Arab Emirates refused. As far as we know, Nicaragua also refused. Since the passengers were Indian nationals, the Indian Embassy worked closely with them.” “The French authorities have expedited the process of obtaining all the necessary authorizations for the flight to India. Some of them refused to leave… In the end, 276 passengers boarded and left for India and the others claimed asylum,” she explained.
Who was the customer?
Ms Bakayoko said the customer who chartered the flight from Dubai to Nicaragua was responsible for checking the passengers' passports, tickets and visas. She said the customer was a foreign, non-European company but refused to reveal the identity.
Asked if other flights to Nicaragua had been chartered by the same customer, she replied “yes” but said she did not have data to say how many Indians were on board such flights.
“Donkey flights” refer to a method used by some migrants to travel through third countries with lenient travel document requirements to reach their final destination.