The Legend Airlines A340 plane that had stopped for refuelling in Vatry en route from Fujairah airport in the United Arab Emirates to Managua, Nicaragua, was asked to halt by the French authorities. Subsequently, more than 300 Indian passengers who were travelling on the ill-fated flight were asked to deboard the plane and escorted to the same far-flung rural French airport.
Until then, the fate of around 303 Indian passengers hung in limbo for four days after the French authorities barred them from travelling further to their destination, citing a human trafficking angle. The ordeal started after the French authorities received an anonymous tip that the airline could be carrying human trafficking victims. Soon after the news hit headlines on the television sets, the Indian government swung into action and the Ministry of External Affairs released a statement wherein it said they were in touch with their French counterparts.
"French authorities informed us of a plane w/ 303 people, mostly of Indian origin, from Dubai to Nicaragua detained on a technical halt at a French airport. The embassy team has reached and obtained consular access. We are investigating the situation, also ensuring the wellbeing of passengers," the Indian Embassy in France posted this message on Twitter, now rebranded as X.
27 still in France
Subsequently, on Monday, the passengers appeared before a judge at the airport to decide on their continued detention. However, in a relief to the passengers, the court ordered the authorities to let all the passengers go. However, the remaining two passengers were initially detained as part of a human trafficking investigation but were released Monday after appearing before a judge, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. The judge named them as ‘’assisted witnesses’’ to the case, a special status under French law that allows time for further investigation and could lead to eventual charges or to the case being dropped.
The Indian Embassy posted its thanks on X, formerly Twitter, to French officials for ensuring that the Indians could go home. French authorities worked through Christmas Eve and Christmas morning on formalities to allow passengers to leave France, regional prosecutor Annick Browne told The Associated Press.
Are the passengers really victims of human trafficking
Prosecutors wouldn’t comment on whether the passengers’ ultimate destination could have been the US, which has seen a surge in Indians crossing the Mexico-US border this year.
French authorities are working to determine the aim of the original flight, and opened a judicial inquiry into activities by an organized criminal group helping foreigners enter or stay in a country illegally, the prosecutor’s office said.
It did not specify Monday whether human trafficking — which the UN defines as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit” — is still suspected.
Why Nicaragua is a favourite destination for migrants
The Vatry airport was requisitioned by police for days. Local officials, medics and volunteers installed cots and ensured regular meals and showers for those held inside. Then it turned into a makeshift courtroom Sunday as judges, lawyers and interpreters filled the terminal to carry out emergency hearings to determine the next steps. Some lawyers at Sunday’s hearings protested authorities’ handling of the situation and the passengers’ rights, suggesting that police and prosecutors overreacted to the anonymous tip.
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 to eight days.
Legend Airlines lawyer Liliana Bakayoko said some passengers didn’t want to go to India because they had paid for a tourism trip to Nicaragua. The airline has denied any role in possible human trafficking.
The US government has designated Nicaragua as one of several countries deemed as failing to meet minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking. Nicaragua has also been used as a migratory springboard for people fleeing poverty or conflict because of relaxed or visa-free entry requirements for some countries. Sometimes charter flights are used for the journey.
(With inputs from agency)
