France 'human trafficking' plane: What has happened so far in the case

The Mumbai Police, in collaboration with the Anti-Human Trafficking cell, has launched an investigation into the chartered plane that was grounded at a French airport on December 21.

Mumbai Police special IGP, IPS officer Deepak Pandey has asked the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officials, who had reportedly interrogated the passengers on their arrival back to the country, to submit detailed reports to city police within 24 hours.

What happened with the plane and passengers?

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On December 21, 303 Indian passengers boarded a Legend Airlines' A340 flight operated by Romanian company Legend Airlines in Dubai. The plane had stopped in Vatry, France for refuelling, where, based on a tip-off that alleged the plane was carrying suspected victims of traffickingwas grounded for four days.

After being grounded and interrogated by the French authorities, the plane landed in Mumbai on December 26, albeit with 276 passengers. The rest had applied for asylum and were transferred to a special zone in Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport for asylum-seekers.

On Tuesday (Dec 27), 25 Indian passengers from the plane who had stayed back, were freed by a judge, who ordered their release on formal grounds.

As per prosecutors, this was done considering that the head of the border police at France's main Charles de Gaulle airport "had not referred the case" to the judge within the timeframe stipulated by law.

Among the passengers who stayed in France were five minors, who have now been taken into the care of child welfare services.

Indian authorities intensify probe

While the French authorities have seemingly dropped the human trafficking angle, the Indian government is continuing its probe. According to an official at the home ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, the registration of the chartered flight and “people operating this entire nexus” had been identified.

Notably, passengers of the chartered plane had arrived in UAE at different times and each of them had legal tourist visas for entering Dubai. However, they all congregated at the same place and left for Nicaragua together before the flight was cut short in France.

Watch | First visuals of passengers of plane grounded in France; returns with 276 indian passengers

As most of the returned passengers are from Punjab and Gujarat, the authorities in the respective states have also launched their own investigation.

Currently, the fulcrum of the investigation remains unearthing who facilitated the travel of 303 Indians.
Before their release from the Indian airports, the passengers were questioned by immigration and law enforcement agencies.

The initial interrogations have revealed that some agents (touts) had fixed a deal with the majority of them, charging anywhere between Rs 40 lakh ($48,000) to Rs 1.5 crore ($180,000) to send them illegally to America.

Earlier this week, two touts were arrested by the GujaratCrime Investigation Department (CID) which is expected to reveal the entire operation of the syndicate.

“They used to forge bank statements and other documents to help people secure visas and obtain passports,” a CID official told Hindustan Times.

One of the 17 FIRs names 47-year-old Dineshbhai Baldaniya, owner of Lakshmi Overseas Consultancy in Ahmedabad, accusing him of forging documents. The authorities are on the lookout for other agents who have seemingly gone underground since the flight was stopped.

(With inputs from agencies)