Those behind Nicaragua ‘human trafficking’ racket to face FIR: SP

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Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, January 4

The SIT constituted to probe the Nicaragua ‘human trafficking’ case has tracked down the details of several passengers who were onboard the flight and detained by the French authorities.

However, some of the passengers who appeared before the SIT denied any ‘foul-play’ and stated that they were travelling as tourists or in some cases trying to improve their travel history.

According to information, out of 303 passengers who were travelling on Legend Airlines, which took off from Fujairah in the UAE, half of them belonged to Punjab and Gujarat.

SIT sources revealed that most of the Punjabis were in the age group of 16 to 22 years and many of them were hardly matriculate.

Earlier, the SIT had approached Foreigners Regional Registration Office in Mumbai to ascertain the details of passengers deported back from Vatry Airport in France. A total of 25 passengers had applied for asylum in France and the remaining 276 passengers travelled back to India.

SP Randhir Kumar, who is heading the SIT, said they had appealed to passengers to come forward with their complaints. He added that they would register the FIRs and take stringent action against those behind the ‘racket’.

Sources said the SIT was also in touch with the Regional Passport Office in Chandigarh, Jalandhar and Amritsar to fetch out the details of passengers who had gone into ‘hibernation’ after landing in India. Sources said Nicaragua had become a popular destination for those seeking asylum in the US.

As many as 96,917 Indians attempted to enter the US illegally through ‘donkey routes’ in 2023, signalling a 51.61 per cent jump from the previous year, according to the US Customs and Border Patrol.