At least 20 passengers from Gujarat on board the Nicaragua-bound Legend Airlines flight, which returned to Mumbai from France, have been quizzed by police in a bid to unearth a suspected illegal immigration network that is allegedly operating from the state, according to police.
The Nicaragua-bound aircraft, an Airbus A340 carrying 276 passengers, was grounded in France for four days over suspected human trafficking. It landed in Mumbai from France in the early hours of December 26.
“They were sent back from France. There was a rumour they had planned to enter the US illegally after landing in Nicaragua. In their statements, they told us they were going there as tourists. We are going into the details to find out who were the agents behind their trip,” said S P Rajkumar, Additional Director General of Police, CID – Crime and Railways, as quoted by PTI.
Out of the 60 people who returned, 20 passengers of the flight have been quizzed so far, the official said.
“We are verifying their documents to ascertain whether they used genuine or forged documents to proceed to Central America. We will also check their financial transactions because, ideally, they should not have paid more if they were going there as normal tourists and not with any other intention,” said the senior IPS officer.
“Though we have started questioning, no one is divulging facts. They claim they went there as tourists. We are investigating the case from all angles,” he added.
Superintendent of Police, CID (Crime), Sanjay Kharat on Tuesday said that the CID had formed four teams to probe the matter.
“The CID (crime) wants to take action against agents who had promised help to the victims to enter the US and other countries (illegally). We have formed four teams which will get information from the victims regarding promises made to them by these agents,” he had told reporters.
He had earlier told the Indian Express that the passengers were mostly from north Gujarat – Mehsana, Gandhinagar and Anand districts.
The chartered flight, operated by Romanian charter company Legend Airlines and bound for Nicaragua, landed at Vatry near Paris on December 21 for a technical stopover en route from Dubai when the French police intervened.
French authorities had launched a judicial probe into the purpose of the team, with a unit specialising in organised crime investigating suspected human trafficking.
Nicaragua has become a popular destination for those seeking asylum in the US. As many as 96,917 Indians attempted to enter the US illegally in the financial year 2023, signalling a 51.61 per cent jump from the previous year, according to data made available by the US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). At least 41,770 of those Indians attempted to enter the US via the Mexican land border.
Flights to Nicaragua or third countries where obtaining travel documents is easy have come to be known as ‘dunki’ flights.
(With PTI inputs)