A charter plane carrying 303 Indians to Nicaragua was authorized to leave a French airport after being grounded for four days under suspicion of human trafficking. The plane was scheduled to bring many of the stranded passengers back to India on Monday after local authorities worked through Christmas Eve on formalities to allow some passengers to leave the small Vatry Airport in Champagne country. Throughout the investigation, the passengers, including a 21-month-old child, were stuck in the airport terminal.
Two passengers were detained as part of a special French investigation into suspected human trafficking, while several others requested asylum in France. The plane, operated by Legend Airlines, stopped for refueling in Vatry en route from Fujairah airport in United Arab Emirates for Managua, Nicaragua, and was grounded by police based on an anonymous tip that it could be carrying trafficking victims. The airport was requisitioned by police for days, and emergency hearings were carried out to determine whether to keep the Indians sequestered any longer.
The seizure order for the airliner was lifted on Sunday morning, making it possible to reroute the passengers in the waiting area. French Civil Aviation Authority worked to get the necessary permissions for the plane to take off once again. Legend Airlines lawyer Liliana Bakayoko reported that the company hoped the plane could head to Mumbai, India, on Monday with as many passengers as possible. She estimated around 280 passengers should be able to leave.
Local officials, medics, and volunteers installed cots and ensured regular meals and showers for those held in the airport. Sunday’s hearings saw protests from lawyers concerning the overall handling of the strange situation. Foreigners can be held up to four days in a transit zone for police investigations in France, after which a special judge must rule on whether to extend that for eight days.
The French government has yet to announce what kind of trafficking was alleged, but it has been speculated that the passengers’ ultimate destination may have been the United States. The 15 crew members were questioned and released Saturday, and the U.S. government has designated Nicaragua as one of several countries deemed as failing to meet minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking. Due to these strict standards, Nicaragua has been used as a migratory springboard for people fleeing poverty or conflict, and sometimes charter flights are used for this purpose.
According to the U.S. government, Indian citizens were arrested 41,770 times entering the United States illegally from Mexico in the U.S.’s budget year that ended on September 30, more than double from 18,308 the previous year.