France plane row: Indian police search for missing 2-year-old from alleged 'donkey flight'
Missing child, france flight
The 'donkey flight' saga is getting murkier by the day. An alleged human trafficking flight ferrying more than 300 Indians to Nicaragua, as per reports, also had a two-year-old boy from the Indian state of Gujarat, now untraceable.
Missing toddler
The Gujarat police, as per reports, have launched an investigation to trace the missing toddler and identify his parents or guardian. They are seeking to unravel the mystery of whether the young child born on August 2, 2021, was part of a complex plan orchestrated by human smugglers, and whether he faces a fate similar to the many children abandoned at the US-Canada border.
A Gujarat police CID officer, as per a Times of India report, said: "We have been trying to locate the child and his parents or guardians as many families have left their homes in north Gujarat."
Quoting an anonymous source, the publication reportedthat agents from Gujarat's Mehsana and Gandhinagar often establish fake families, with people posing as a couple carrying someone else's child to facilitate illegal emigrations.
This reportedly eased the process of obtaining US asylum, as "a couple with children is likely to get US asylum more easily."
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Along with the two-year-old, there were three other unaccompanied minors, a 10-year-old and two 17-year-olds.
As per US Customs and Border Protection data, between 2020 and 2023, a record 730 unaccompanied Indian minors were abandoned at the US borders, a 233 per cent increase from 2020.
Background: The flight and alleged human trafficking
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 trafficking, it was grounded for four days.
Later, the charge of human trafficking, as per AFP, was dropped after it was established the passengers had boarded the plane of their own free will.
