Gujarat police question 20 passengers of Nicaragua-bound flight to unearth 'illegal immigration'

Ahmedabad, December 30

At least 20 passengers from Gujarat who were on the Nicaragua-bound flight which was sent back mid-route from France have been quizzed by police in a bid to unearth a suspected illegal immigration network operating from the state, a senior official has said.

The Nicaragua-bound aircraft, an Airbus A340 carrying 276 passengers, was grounded in France for four days over suspected human trafficking. It landed in Mumbai in the early hours of December 26.

According to a senior state Crime Investigation Department (CID) official, those passengers included at least 60 from Gujarat, who have already reached their respective native places in the state.

They are being questioned by the department to find out whether they had any plans to cross into the United States illegally after reaching Latin America, the official said on Friday.

“They were sent back from France. There was a rumour they had planned to enter the US illegally after landing in Nicaragua. In their statements, they told us they were going there as tourists. We are going into the details to find out who were the agents behind their trip,” said SP Rajkumar, Additional Director General of Police, CID – Crime and Railways.

Of the 60 who returned, some 20 have already been grilled by the agency, he added.

“We are verifying their documents to ascertain whether they used genuine or forged documents to proceed to Central America. We will also check their financial transactions because, ideally, they should not have paid more if they were going there as normal tourists and not with any other intention,” said the senior IPS officer.

“Though we have started questioning, no one is divulging facts. They claim they went there as tourists. We are investigating the case from all angles,” he added.