As many as 303 Indian passengers, who are stranded in France after their plane was detained on suspicion of human trafficking, have received clearance from the French judge to fly out of the country, said top sources in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
French prosecutors and the judge are keen that Indians should go back as soon as possible. They are likely to fly on December 26. It is not clear whether they will go to India or the UAE, sources said.
“There is a technical issue related to chartered flights which has permission only to fly up to Dubai and no permission for India.
At present, two plans are being explored for their travel out of France.
“One plan is Indians go by same flight and the second option is to send by commercial Air India flight and question will be the payments of tickets. The local mission is exploring both options to send them by this Romanian flight directly to India by getting permission or send by Air India. Permission to fly to Delhi is unlikely and another problem is logistics from Varty to Paris. Indian Embassy strongly recommended their deportation to India,” top MEA sources said.
A Nicaragua-bound plane carrying 303 Indian passengers flying from Dubai, which was stopped at Vatry airport in France for refuelling, was detained by local authorities on suspicion of human trafficking earlier this week.
According to government sources, it is believed that poor villagers from Punjab and Gujarat wanted to enter the USA through Nicaragua. In consular access, it was found that the passengers were mostly Gujarati and Punjabi who were tutored that they were travelling for tourism.
Nicaragua is a popular illegal route to enter the USA after the Mexican side was closed.
According to an AFP report, the aircraft was detained on Thursday after an anonymous tipoff saying the passengers aboard the plane were “likely to be victims of human trafficking”, Paris prosecutors said.
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