The Punjab Police set up a Special Investigation Team on Saturday to probe a suspected human trafficking case related to Indian passengers on an aircraft run by Romania’s Legend Airlines, originally destined for Nicaragua, but detained in France. Though the passengers have now returned to India, no victim has yet come forward to register any case.
Police sources said that in cases of illegal or irregular migration, victims usually do not register complaints as they have often willingly opted for the so-called ‘donkey route’ to emigrate and are aware of the risks in the process. In fact, victims often strike compromises with the agents accused of facilitating illegal migration and turn hostile or quash the first information report (FIR) in court. Agents based outside India are also difficult to trace, the police sources added.
An A340 Airbus chartered for a flight by a Romanian company named Legend Airlines took off from Fujaiarah in the United Arab Emirates on December 22, headed for Nicaragua in Central America. The flight had a technical stopover at France’s Vatry airport, but was grounded there after the local French administration received an anonymous tip-off about probable ‘human trafficking’. After four days at the Vatry Airport, the flight with 276 passengers was sent to Mumbai on December 26. While 25 passengers chose to apply for asylum in France, two passengers were made assisted witnesses in the French investigation.
Four-member SIT
Following an initial analysis of the passenger names, the police suspect that around half of those on the flight may belong to the Punjab-Haryana region. To investigate the ‘human trafficking’ matter in depth, the Director of the Bureau of Investigation L.K. Yadav has constituted a four-member SIT, which will submit its final report to the competent court.
A police officer with direct knowledge of the matter said that the State Police was in touch with central agencies, and those from other States as well. The passengers’ destination of Nicaragua in Central America has raised suspicions that they may have been trying to follow the ‘dunki’ or ‘donkey’ route to illegally enter Mexico, and then head further north to the United States, or to Canada, the officer said.
The U.S. government has designated Nicaragua as one of several countries deemed as failing to meet minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking. Nicaragua has also been used as a migratory springboard because of relaxed or visa-free entry requirements. However, Legend Airlines’ lawyer refutes this claim, with the argument that most passengers had valid visas to Nicaragua and return tickets.
Illegal migration
A growing number of Indians, especially youth from Punjab, travel abroad in the hope of a better life. The numbers of Police Clearance Certificates (PCC) issued over the past decade by the Punjab police show this trend, with over 10 lakh issued since 2012. The PCC is issued to passport holders in case they have applied for residential status, employment, or long-term visas, or for immigration.
As legal migration rises, the phenomenon of illegal or irregular migration has also grown to a considerable magnitude, though there is little authentic data on this in the public domain. “Every year more than 20,000 youths from Punjab attempt irregular migration,” the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said in a report back in 2009.
