Plane grounded in France set for Mumbai landing

Tribune News Service

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, December 25

A plane with 300 passengers, mostly Indians, will land in Mumbai airport on Monday-Tuesday intervening night after being cleared to fly back from France where it had been grounded since Thursday on suspicion of human trafficking.

As reported by The Tribune, four judges on Sunday thought it best to permit the Indians to return to their home country. The passengers had boarded a chartered flight from the UAE to Nicaragua. After getting an anonymous tip, the plane was grounded in France where it had stopped for refuelling.

Reports said about a dozen passengers have sought political asylum and have declined to return. Local media reports said another dozen passengers were expected to take the same plea or demand they be flown to Nicaragua as promised.

The Nicaragua-bound Airbus A340 and its Indian passengers were being held at Vatry airport, 150 km from Paris, where it had arrived on Thursday from Dubai.

The four judges aided by lawyers questioned many of the passengers for two days and then decided to send the passengers back to their home country. Countries such as Honduras and Nicaragua are favoured landing points for illegal migrants who then make their way to the US via Mexico.

On Monday, local authorities told the media that the plane which had obtained the necessary clearances was set to take off. It took off for Mumbai around 2.30 pm (local time).

However, two passengers, identified as Indians, have not been allowed to leave and are in detention pending slapping of charges. The two were detained on Friday “to verify” whether their role “may have been different than the others in this transport, and under what conditions and with what objectives”, reported the French newspaper, Le Monde.

Security agencies will further question the two to ascertain their links with human smuggling rings that assist undocumented foreigners from entering another country.

Two detained

Two passengers, identified as Indians, have not been allowed to leave and have been detained “to verify” their role in the transportation of the passengers to Nicaragua

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