Trafficking fears, France grounds plane bound for Nicaragua with 303 Indians

PARIS, December 22

France has grounded a charter flight headed to Nicaragua carrying 303 Indian passengers, and a judicial investigation into the conditions and purposes of the trip has been launched, local officials in the eastern Marne region said on Friday.

A unit specialising in organised crime is investigating suspicions of human trafficking and arrested two persons for questioning, the Paris public prosecution office said, adding that authorities had been tipped off by an anonymous informant. The flight, carried out by Romanian charter company Legend Airlines, had departed from Dubai and landed at the small Vatry airport on Thursday afternoon for a technical stopover when police intervened, the Marne prefect’s office said in a statement.

“The reception hall at Vatry airport was transformed into a waiting area with individual beds to provide passengers with the best possible reception conditions,” the prefect’s office said. — Reuters