Separate probes on post-plane grounding in France over trafficking suspicions
A relative of a returnee from Punjab, who left for Dubai on a work visa two months ago, said that they paid ₹four lakh to an agent as the first instalment
The bulk of 276 Nicaragua-bound Indians sent back from France following detention over fears of human trafficking belong to Punjab and Gujarat, prompting police in the two states to launch separate investigations.
A Legend Airways charter flight arrived in Mumbai on Wednesday carrying 276 of the 303 passengers originally on board after French authorities questioned them for four days. The rest have sought asylum in France and were detained for a human trafficking investigation.
A relative of a returnee from Punjab, who left for Dubai on a work visa two months ago, said he planned to go to the US via Nicaragua. He added they paid ₹four lakh to an agent. “The next instalment was to be paid when he would have reached Nicaragua and another after reaching Mexico and the final one on reaching the final destination [the US],” the relative said, requesting anonymity.
Around 70% of the 276 returnees are from Punjab and 25% from Gujarat.
A Gujarat Police officer, who did not want to be named, said they have so far found all the passengers from the state carried legal documents even as their investigation was still on.
A Punjab Police officer said initial inquiries have suggested the involvement of Shashi Kiran Reddy, a Hyderabad-based consultant under scrutiny in a 2022 case involving a Gujarat couple and their two children, who died trying to enter the US from Canada.
Investigators in Gujarat and Punjab said Reddy was said to have chartered Dubai-Nicaragua flights in 2023.
One of the three people from Shahkot in Punjab’s Jalandhar, who were on the Nicaragua-bound flight, refused to speak when HT managed to get in touch with him. His family refused to give details of the travel agents, who arranged his Dubai work visa and tickets to Nicaragua.
The passengers refused to speak to media after landing in Mumbai and most returned to their homes.
A Jalandhar-based travel agent, who asked for anonymity, said the circuitous route to the US costs between ₹40-45 lakh with payments made in instalments for each destination. “Mostly, there are no police complaints as the travel agents involved return the money if a person fails to reach the final destination.”
A second Gujarat Police officer, who has investigated illegal migration cases, said the cost of reaching the US was between ₹50-60 lakh per person with the Mexico route being the preferred one. “The Nicaragua flight was also for illegal migration through Mexico.”
HT on Wednesday reported at least 17 cases have been filed across Gujarat since the December 22 grounding of an Airbus A340 in France blew the lid off operations of a syndicate helping Indians enter the US and Canada illegally on forged documentation. The First Information Reports in these cases do not directly reference the Nicaragua-bound flight but they pertain to the same syndicate.
The ring charged each person between ₹70 lakh and ₹80 lakh for “donkey route” immigration. Two people among a web of at least 50 travel agents and touts based in India have been arrested.