Some 300 Indian citizens have been held hostage at a small airport in France’s Champagne region for days as authorities investigate whether the charter flight they were traveling on was involved in human trafficking.
The group, which includes families with children, was headed to Nicaragua and the youngest passenger was just 21 months old. According to the local civil protection agency, several of them were unaccompanied minors.
French officials grounded the plane after receiving a tip and two passengers were detained as part of a special investigation into suspected human trafficking by an organized criminal group.
Prosecutors did not say what type of trafficking was suspected or whether the plane’s final destination was the United States, where the number of Indians crossing the US-Mexico border this year has skyrocketed.
The unnamed A340 plane remains grounded in Vatry since Thursday. The 15 crew members of the Legend Airlines charter flight, en route from the United Arab Emirates to Managua, Nicaragua, were questioned and released.
Passengers have been sequestered on folding beds at the airport, which primarily serves small or charter flights.
The group was heading to Nicaragua. AFP via Getty Images Prosecutors did not say what type of trafficking was suspected. AP A French gendarme patrols the area near a plane chartered by Legend Airlines that has been grounded at Vatry airport since Thursday after officials received information that human trafficking may be involved. AP
Indian consular representatives are at the airport and working with the French government “for the well-being of Indians” and for an “early resolution of the situation”, the Indian embassy in France published on Saturday.
Legend Airlines’ lawyer, Liliana Bakayoko, denied any knowledge of traffic related to the plane or its passengers. The customer who chartered the plane, which is not a European company, has chartered multiple Legend Airlines flights from Dubai to Nicaragua without incident.
The United States government has designated Nicaragua as one of several countries considered not to meet minimum standards to eliminate human trafficking.
The number of Indian immigrants through Mexico has increased from less than 3,000 in 2022 to more than 11,000 from January to November this year, according to the Mexican Migration Agency.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn