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Flight from France: Deportees ‘hesitant’ to reach out, say cops
Requesting anonymity, an official said a special investigation team (SIT) of the state police has managed to contact 3-4 deportees, who claim they were flying on tourist visas with all valid documents
: Two weeks after 303 passengers, with about 150 of them being from Punjab, on a Nicaragua-bound flight were detained by French authorities on suspicion of ‘human trafficking’, special investigation team probing the matter is finding it difficult to get details of the travel plans of the deportees to the Latin American country, who are ‘hesitant’ to reach out to the cops.
Requesting anonymity, an official said a special investigation team (SIT) of the state police has managed to contact 3-4 deportees, who claim they were flying on tourist visas with all valid documents.
“Deportees are not coming forward to tell their side of stories and the SIT had to contact 3-4 affected passengers for formally giving details of their journey overseas on the Dubai-Nicaragua air route,” said the police functionary.
A week after its formation, the four-member SIT headed by a superintendent of police (SP)-rank officer Randhir Kumar, is yet to get any clue on the suspected human trafficking angle in the matter.
The tight-lipped SIT head has declined to divulge updates in the probe.
“Probe is at the initial stage and we appeal to the affected people to contact anti-trafficking wings at their respective districts,” said SIT head Kumar, currently posted in Ferozepur district.
“No case has been registered in the matter so far as the incident is being looked at as a case of suspected human trafficking,” an official privy to the probe said.
A preliminary investigation by the Punjab Police has revealed that of the 303 passengers on the flight, about 150 were residents of Punjab.
Police authorities said illegal immigration by some of the deportees cannot be ruled out as several people from Punjab are lured by unscrupulous travel agents to take the ‘donkey route’ that takes people across continents before smuggling them into the US.
“In the current case, all Indian passport holders, particularly Punjabis, were flying from Dubai to Nicaragua. They may claim to be tourists, but it is important to know why the Punjabis opted to board the plane from Dubai to the Latin American country. Agents charge more than ₹50 lakh per person for ‘donkey route’ and people agree to take the potentially life-threatening route on forged documents and travel on fraudulently obtained visas. Scrutiny of bank account papers may reveal financial credentials of being international tourists or a ploy of illegal immigration or an attempt of trafficking,” said an intelligence officer at an international airport.
A state police functionary said the top brass has asked the SIT to contact the passengers to get details, leading to their detention followed by their deportation.
“About 27 passengers had reportedly filed for asylum in France and we have to get further updates on the matter. In a response to the state police’s requisition, the Indian immigration authorities shared documentary details of the detainees and nearly half of the 303 detainees had Punjab address in their passports,” said the official.
The Nicaragua-bound Airbus A340 and its Indian passengers were held at Vatry airport on December 21, located in the east of Paris, when it arrived from Dubai for refuelling, after an anonymous tip-off that it was carrying potential victims of human trafficking.
All 303 passengers were detained for three days and subjected to an investigation into the suspected human trafficking before 276 were made to return to India. All of them landed at Mumbai airport on December 24 where they were let off by the immigration authorities after detailed paperwork of each of them.
