A “non-European” entity had facilitated the journey of 303 Indian citizens who were grounded in Vatry airport near Paris for five days after the French authorities got an “anonymous signal”, said the lawyer of the Romanian Legend Airlines whose chartered flight was flying the passengers from Dubai to Nicaragua.
Speaking to The Hindu telephonically Liliana Bakayoko, advocate for the airlines, said that the French authorities converted the airport into a tribunal and the passengers were summoned before a judge before they were allowed to return to India.
“The French authorities got an anonymous signal and they took the signal extremely seriously as they suspected human trafficking to be involved behind the flight. All 303 passengers were Indian citizens and they had boarded the flight in the United Arab Emirates,” Ms. Bakayoko said without explaining if the “anonymous signal” came from a third country or an agency that has friendly ties with France.
She said that the investigation is currently ongoing in Paris about the flight and its purpose, saying, “At the moment we can say that the aircraft was hired by a non-European client [of the Legend Airlines] who had also sold tickets to the Indian citizens on board for the UAE to Nicaragua flight. We are not naming the client at the moment.”
Some passengers had booked rooms in Nicaragua
During the interrogation, French officials discovered that several passengers had booked hotel rooms in Nicaragua and a few even had confirmed tickets to return to the United Arab Emirates. These discoveries further intrigued the French authorities as they tried to ascertain what the Indian passengers wanted to do in the central American country which is known for being a gateway to the North America. “While it is not unusual for Indians to travel internationally during the Christmas season, investigation is yet to ascertain if all of them came from India to Dubai with the intention of getting on to the same chartered flight or if some of them were already stationed in Dubai,” said Ms. Bakayoko.
The aircraft, an Airbus A-340 had landed in Vatry airport for a brief stopover to refuel on December 21, when the French officials acted on the tip off and asked the crew and the passengers to deplane for further verification. “A hearing procedure started after that and the airport was converted into a tribunal and hearing also took place but subsequently because of the lack of interpreters for such a large number of individuals the hearing was paused and after some time, it was decided to allow them to leave French territory,” said Ms. Bakayoko.
The Legend Airlines aircraft landed in Mumbai earlier on Tuesday and the passengers were allowed to leave the airport after routine questioning.
25 passengers sought legal asylum in France
Ms. Bakayoko said that the non-liveried nature of the aircraft did not violate any rule as it was not representing any company but a client who had chartered the flight to ferry passengers. She informed that out of the 303 Indians onboard, 25 sought legal asylum in France and have stayed back for the moment.
“Out of the total, 2 passengers were taken into custody as they were found in possession of multiple passports and a substantial amount of money that they were not supposed to have. 25 passengers have stayed back as they sought asylum in France and the rest 276 were allowed to return to India,” said Ms. Bakayoko who further informed that neither Nicaragua nor the United Arab Emirates wanted to host the aircraft and that the Indian authorities urged the passengers to return home as they are Indian passport holders.
With the departure of 276 Indians which included the two who were taken into custody for a brief period, the focus of the story has now shifted to the fate of the 25 Indians who sought asylum in France. The lawyer shared that they sought asylum citing various grounds that are still unclear and said that the process may take up to six months to examine each case that the 25 Indians have cited while seeking asylum.
“Asylum is granted if the French authorities find that they could be persecuted on grounds of discrimination like religion, sexual preferences etc. Ascertaining all the cases may take some time and will be done in a case by case basis and till the conclusion of the matter, the individuals will be under the care of French authorities,” Ms. Bakayoko said while informing that there is no certainty that the French government would grant asylum to all the 25 Indian citizens.
