The passengers on board a dubious chartered flight grounded in France last month were aware that they were embarking on an illegal route through Nicaragua and Mexico before entering the US on boats, were prepped for any exigency and assured of legal assistance in case things go wrong, and were confident of success because they’d seen videos of people being smuggled into America, two passengers on the plane said on Thursday.
The grounding of the Dubai-Nicaragua Legend Airways Airbus A340 — carrying 303 Indians — in Vatry in France on December 21 blew the lid off a racket involving private firms and touts that help people reach the US and Canada via stops in Europe and South American countries. To make the multi-hop journey, now known as the “donkey route”, the consultancies help create fake documents and paper trails.
Also read: Donkey flight returns: Indians on suspect chartered plane mostly from Punjab, Gujarat
A 24-year-old resident of Dingucha in Gujarat and one of the people on the flight, said that passengers were told by agents that they were to fly from Dubai to Nicaragua, where they would meet another agent, to take them to Mexico, where a visa on arrival would be arranged for them.
“From Mexico, they said we would take an illegal route through boats to reach the US. Two lawyers had already been paid to take up our case in the eventuality that we are caught at the border. We were asked to travel light, and only take money so that if there was a delay we could survive. They said it was easier on boats if we carried less baggage,” the 24-year-old said, requesting anonymity.
{{/usCountry}}“From Mexico, they said we would take an illegal route through boats to reach the US. Two lawyers had already been paid to take up our case in the eventuality that we are caught at the border. We were asked to travel light, and only take money so that if there was a delay we could survive. They said it was easier on boats if we carried less baggage,” the 24-year-old said, requesting anonymity.
{{/usCountry}}“There was confidence because we had seen over 50 videos where Gujaratis had entered the US illegally before.”
A second person on the flight — a 25-year-old computer operator from Ahmedabad who wanted to become a hotel manager in the US — said he contacted an agent who previously arranged for three family members to take the route, and was told that the illegal way was the only option. “I was told agents would arrange legal documents, a degree and bank papers, and that I had to arrange ₹85 lakh in return,” he said.
The Airbus jet was allowed to return with the Indian passengers in the last week of December after French authorities questioned them for four days. Of the 303 originally on board, 276 returned, with the rest having sought asylum in France and two detained over what French police said was a human trafficking investigation.
The statements of the passengers from Gujarat underline the sweeping and systematic functioning of the illegal operation. HT has previously reported that hundreds, possibly thousands, of people transacted with a syndicate spanning several states that helped Indians enter US and Canada illegally and on forged documentation.
Sanjay Kharat, superintendent of police, crime investigation department (CID), Gujarat, said police have identified four kingpins in the case. “It is not east for one person to arrange for over 300 tickets and to make such arrangements. There are many more in the racket, and transactions were made through the hawala route. The passengers however have recorded statements that they have not paid a penny, and the investment was made by agents. This is a highly specialised operation,” he said.
The 24-year-old said that he left Ahmedabad for Mumbai on November 19, as part of a batch of seven others, all to eventually board the flight to Nicaragua. “We were introduced to each other outside the Mumbai airport, and from there we were taken to a budget hotel where we stayed for two days,” he said.
They flew to Dubai on November 29 and December 2, and after a one-day stay in a hotel, were shifted to an apartment in a “posh locality.” They were explained the route they would travel from Mexico through maps, were shown videos about what would ensue, and that is where they lived till December 20, when over 300 people boarded the flight to Nicaragua.
The 24-year-old said everything was going well, until they landed to refuel in France, and were told to remain seated.
“Once questioning began, some people did panic. But we had been mentally prepared that officials might interrogate us. The authorities took us to a hall and gave us refreshments. We were then posed with the same questions over and over again and told we were illegally trafficked. They said that if they found anything illegal, we would land in jail for years. But there was an agent on the flight with us who kept counselling us and promised that he would take us back safely, and if something were to go wrong, lawyers were available to appeal the case,” he said.
He added that when they returned to India, they were questioned by Indian authorities, but continued to insist that they had valid travel visas, and were let go.
Kharat corroborated this, adding that the passengers were tutored by agents to refrain from revealing details if they were caught. “After returning, nobody came to us. In fact, we reached out to them. All the passengers are victims here,” he said.
Thus far 17 first information reports have been registered in the case.
One of the agents under the scanner refuted the charges. “Our role may be under the scanner but they have found no evidence in this case. No family or passengers have complaints against us. Otherwise, we would have been in jail by now,” he said, requesting anonymity.