A chartered plane that had landed in France to investigate human trafficking arrived in India carrying 276 Indian nationals who had been stranded for several days at a rural airport in France.
MUMBAI, India — A chartered plane that had landed in France to investigate human trafficking arrived in India on Tuesday with 276 Indian nationals on board, authorities said. The passengers were headed to Nicaragua but were stranded for four days inside a rural French airport in an unusual holiday ordeal.
Once in Mumbai, the passengers filed out of the airport without speaking publicly about what they had experienced or where they were going next. Some carried backpacks or small suitcases and wore hoods or masks to hide their identities.
Last week, a total of 303 passengers boarded a Legend Airlines A340 at Fujairah Airport in the United Arab Emirates for a flight to Managua, Nicaragua. The plane stopped at Vatry airport in France’s Champagne region on Thursday to refuel, but was grounded by police following an anonymous tip that it may be carrying a human trafficking victim.
Vatry Airport was taken over by police for several days. Local authorities, medical workers and volunteers set up cots and ensured regular meals and showers for those kept indoors. It was then transformed into a makeshift courtroom on Sunday, with judges, lawyers and interpreters filling the terminal for emergency hearings to decide next steps.
The plane was cleared to leave the country on Monday and took off for Mumbai. French local authorities said 276 of the original 303 passengers boarded the flight to India, while the remaining 25 have applied for asylum in France.
It said the asylum seekers, including five children, had been transferred to a special area of Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport for processing.
A 21-month-old child and several unaccompanied minors were among the passengers stranded in France.
The two remaining passengers were initially detained as part of a human trafficking investigation, but were released on Monday after appearing before a judge, Paris prosecutors said. The judge named them “auxiliary witnesses” in the case, a special status under French law that gives them time for further investigation and ultimately leads to charges being filed or the case being dropped. there is a possibility.
Prosecutors declined to comment on whether the passengers’ final destination may have been the United States, which has seen a surge in the number of Indians crossing the Mexico-U.S. border this year.
French authorities are working to determine the purpose of the original flight and have launched a judicial investigation into the activities of an organized crime group that facilitates the illegal entry and stay of foreigners, prosecutors said.
The United Nations defines human trafficking as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, detention or reception of persons by force, fraud or deception with the purpose of exploitation for profit”, and there are still suspicions He did not say whether or not.
Some lawyers at Sunday’s hearing protested the authorities’ handling of the situation and the rights of passengers, suggesting police and prosecutors overreacted to the anonymous tip.
The Indian embassy tweeted its gratitude to the French authorities for ensuring the return of the Indian nationals.
Liliana Bakayoko, a lawyer for Legend Airlines, said some passengers did not want to go to India because they had paid for a tourist trip to Nicaragua. The airline denied involvement in any possible human trafficking.
The U.S. government has designated Nicaragua as one of several countries deemed not to meet minimum anti-trafficking standards. Nicaragua is also used as a stepping stone for people fleeing poverty and conflict, as some countries have relaxed entry requirements or visa-free entry. In some cases, we may use charter flights to travel.
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Angela Charlton reported from Paris. Christophe Ena and Boubkar Benzebat contributed to this report from Vatry, France.