Romanian plane with Indian passengers face delayed departure from French airport

Three days after being grounded by French authorities at an airport close to Paris over suspicion of “human trafficking,” a Romanian plane set to depart for Mumbai on Monday with nearly 300 passengers, the majority of whom were Indian, was delayed, according to media reports. Me Liliana Bakayoko, an attorney for the Romanian airline Legend Airlines, claimed that the circumstances were initially unclear.

Speaking to BFMTV, she said that some travellers had initially refused to board the aircraft on Monday morning because they did not want to go back to their home country.

The French news network’s radio and television broadcast stated that “some of the passengers would be unhappy with this return because they wanted to continue their journey to Nicaragua as planned.”

The local prefecture, or responsible official, allegedly “confirmed” to the newspaper “Le Monde” that the jet would take off, “but not before noon” local time.

According to the publication, two passengers are not permitted to leave and could face prosecution.

A charter flight carrying 303 people headed for Nicaragua was forced to land at the Vatry airport, 150 kilometres east of Paris, on Thursday due to suspicions of “human trafficking.” The flight had taken off from Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The A340 aircraft, owned by Romanian airline Legend Airlines, was given permission by French officials to continue its flight on Sunday.

“We feel so much relief. We were eagerly anticipating this, Liliana Bakayoko, the airline’s attorney, was cited by the channel.

According to the station, any passenger who is not in police custody and has not requested refuge is anticipated to go. Some reports state that about forty travellers have requested refuge.

The business, the attorney continued, “will seek damages from its client because it has suffered significant harm” and will be “available to investigators.”

Four French judges made the airport into a makeshift courthouse on Sunday and interrogated the detained travellers. The Paris prosecutor’s office began an inquiry into possible human trafficking, and the hearings were held as part of that probe.

Some of the passengers spoke Tamil, while others spoke Hindi, according to the French media.

Due to procedural flaws, the French judges decided on Sunday to cancel the passenger hearings after approving the plane’s departure.

Eleven unaccompanied youngsters and a child aged 21 months are among the passengers.

On Monday, the two aeroplane passengers’ police custody orders were removed. Suspected of being involved in an illegal immigration racket, the two men were placed under arrest on Friday.

According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, there is a legal inquiry underway regarding the facilitation of foreign nationals’ unauthorised admission and incarceration in the country, as well as their involvement in criminal associations.

The airline’s legal representative has refuted any knowledge of the trafficking.

According to Bakayoko, the “partner” company that chartered the aircraft was in charge of confirming each passenger’s identity credentials and giving the airline access to the passport data 48 hours before to takeoff.

In France, there is a maximum 20-year penalty for human trafficking. The Indian passengers may have planned their trip to get to Central America so they could try to enter the US or Canada illegally from there, according to the reports.

However, a tip from an unidentified source claimed that travellers were “likely to be victims of human trafficking” within a formal gang.

(With agency inputs)