An official stated that a charter plane carrying 276 Indian passengers had landed in Mumbai on December 26 early morning after being grounded for four days in France due to suspicions of human trafficking.
After arriving at the airport in Mumbai, the suspected Indian passengers involved in an alleged human trafficking, were questioned by officials of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
Authorities in France claim that when the aircraft departed for Mumbai, it carried 276 passengers because 25 people – two of whom were minors – had declared their intention to seek for asylum while they were still in France. According to a French news channel, two more people were detained, produced before a judge, released, and given the status of assisted witnesses.
There were 303 Indian passengers on board the aircraft when it landed at Vatry airport, including 11 unaccompanied minors, according to a local official.
On December 21, while making a technical stopover en route from Dubai, the flight, operated by Romanian charter company Legend Airlines and headed for Nicaragua, had landed at Vatry when French police intervened.
The conditions and goal of the trip were the subject of a judicial investigation by French authorities, who assigned a unit specializing in organized crime to look into possible human trafficking.
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