An aircraft with 303 passengers, mostly Indian citizens, that was detained by the French authorities on December 21 over alleged concerns of undocumented immigration was allowed to return to India on Monday, the Embassy of India in Paris announced.
“[We] thank French government and Vatry Airport for quick resolution of the situation enabling Indian passengers to return home and hospitality. Also for working closely with embassy team, present throughout at the site to ensure welfare and smooth and safe return,” the Indian embassy in Paris stated in an announcement declaring that the aircraft belonging to Romanian Legend Airlines was cleared to return to India.
The aircraft, an Airbus A-340, had landed for a technical halt at the Vatry airport, located approximately 160 km away from the French capital on Thursday when an anonymous tip off had prompted the French government to stop the aircraft from taking off.
The aircraft was stranded in Vatry airport amidst reports that the French authorities had interrogated several passengers as well as the crew belonging to Legend Airlines as it was indicated that some of the passengers wanted the aircraft to be flown to Nicaragua.
Initial reports had revealed that the aircraft had taken off with the Indian nationals from Dubai for Nicaragua in central America, which has adopted a liberal immigration policy that has started a major wave of possible illegal immigration to north America. Nicaragua does not have an embassy in India but has honorary Consul Generals and its diplomatic affairs with India are managed by the Nicaraguan embassy in Tokyo which is concurrently accredited to India. According to the protocol division of the Ministry of External Affairs, Vivek Burman is the Honorary Consul General of Nicaragua in New Delhi. Mr. Burman is better known for being a leading figure in Dabur.
At the time of writing this report, the aircraft had taken off from France and was scheduled to reach Mumbai on Tuesday morning.
Earlier, reports quoting French local media had stated that departure of the aircraft was delayed as some of the passengers initially did not want to return to their country of origin. Reports also said nearly four dozen passengers had filed asylum applications.
The airline’s lawyer, Liliana Bakayoko, was quoted as saying that the “situation was for a while confusing”. "We are very relieved. We were impatiently waiting for this,” Ms. Bakayoko had said.
According to the French media, some of the passengers spoke Hindi and others Tamil. After authorising the plane to leave, the French judges on Sunday chose to cancel the hearings of the passengers due to irregularities in the procedure. The passengers include a 21-month-old child and 11 unaccompanied minors.
According to the Le Monde newspaper, two passengers were however not authorised to leave and may face charges. The Public Prosecutor’s Office had specified that a judicial investigation has been opened for aiding the illegal entry and stay of foreigners in the territory “as part of an organised gang and participation in a criminal association”.
The airline’s lawyer has denied any involvement in the trafficking. A “partner” company that chartered the plane was responsible for verifying the identity documents of each passenger, and communicated the passengers’ passport information to the airline 48 hours before the flight, Ms. Bakayoko has said.
Human trafficking carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in France.
(With PTI inputs)
