A plane arrived in India that carried hundreds of Indian nationals who were detained for days at a French airport due to concerns about human trafficking.
During a stop for refuelling, the chartered Airbus A340 that was travelling from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Nicaragua caused suspicion. With 276 passengers on board, it departed, but 25—two of whom were minors—remained in France after requesting asylum.
In addition, two alleged traffickers are still in France pending additional examination. Nonetheless, the courts freed the two.
On Tuesday, local time, the Legend Airlines flight made an early landing in Mumbai.
It was originally stopped from departing Châlons-Vatry Airport on Thursday, approximately 130 kilometres (81 miles) from Paris, following an anonymous tip that some of the passengers might be “victims of human trafficking”, Parisian prosecutors say.
Indian nationals who work in the UAE are thought to make up the majority of those on board. Gujarat, the prosperous western state of India, is said to account for one-third of the passengers.
The individuals on board may have been visiting Nicaragua before attempting to enter the US or Canada, according to reports from French authorities. Before allowing the plane to take off, it was unclear whether authorities had come to a firm conclusion that no crime had been committed. Furthermore, it’s unclear why the aircraft chose to travel to Mumbai rather than Nicaragua again.
According to the online flight tracker Flightradar, Legend Airlines is a Romanian charter airline that operates a fleet of four aircraft.
