Police question passengers on a flight to Nicaragua who were turned back by France
On Tuesday, Superintendent of Police, CID (Crime), Sanjay Kharat said the CID had formed four teams to probe the issue (Photo: PTI)
At least 20 passengers from Gujarat who were on the Nicaragua-bound flight that was turned back mid-route from France have been questioned by police in a bid to unearth a suspected illegal immigration network operating from the state, a senior official said.
The plane bound for Nicaragua, an Airbus A340 with 276 passengers on board, was grounded in France for four days due to suspected human trafficking. It landed in Mumbai in the early hours of December 26.
According to a senior official of the state's Crime Investigation Department (CID), the passengers included at least 60 passengers from Gujarat, who have already reached their respective native places in the state.
They are being questioned by the ministry to find out whether they had plans to enter the United States of America illegally after reaching Latin America, the official said on Friday.
“They were sent back from France. There was a rumor that they planned to enter the US illegally after landing in Nicaragua. In their statements they told us that they went there as tourists. We'll dig into the details to find out who they were. the officers behind their journey,” said SP Rajkumar, Additional Director General of Police, CID – Crime and Railways.
Of the 60 who returned, about 20 have already been grilled by the agency, he added.
“We are verifying their documents to determine whether they used genuine or forged documents to travel to Central America. We will also check their financial transactions as ideally they should not have paid more if they went there as normal tourists and not with any other intention,” the senior IPS officer said.
“Although we have started asking questions, no one is disclosing the facts. They claim they went there as tourists. We are investigating the matter from all angles,” he added.
On Tuesday, Superintendent of Police, CID (Crime), Sanjay Kharat said that the CID had formed four teams to investigate the issue.
“The CID (crime) wants to take action against officers who promised help to the victims to (illegally) enter the US and other countries. We have formed four teams that will get information from the victims about the promises these officers made to them. ,” he had told reporters.
The chartered flight, operated by Romanian charter airline Legend Airlines and bound for Nicaragua, landed in Vatry near Paris on December 21 for a technical stopover en route from Dubai, when French police intervened.
French authorities have launched a judicial investigation into the circumstances and purpose of the trip, with a unit specializing in organized crime investigating suspected human trafficking.
Nicaragua has become a popular destination for asylum seekers in the US. As many as 96,917 Indians attempted to enter the US illegally in the financial year 2023, marking a 51.61 percent increase over the previous year, according to data made available by the US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).
At least 41,770 of these Indians attempted to enter the US through the Mexican land border, CBP data shows.
Flights to Nicaragua or third countries where obtaining travel documents is easy are known as 'dunki' flights.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: December 30, 2023 | 9:16 am IST