(Vatry) The French authorities hope to obtain “Monday morning at the latest” the authorizations to re-route by plane the Indian passengers confined since Thursday evening in an airport in Marne after the immobilization of their aircraft, against a backdrop of suspicions of human trafficking Human being.
The Paris prosecutor’s office told AFP that justice had authorized the plane to leave, a decision which “allows us to consider the rerouting of passengers placed in the waiting zone” in the airport, the prefecture then announced in a press release.
The authorities are “trying to obtain the necessary authorizations for the plane to take off again,” which arrived in France with 303 passengers, “which should take place no later than Monday morning,” she added.
Contacted by AFP, the prefecture gave no details on the departure date and the intended destination.
But the aircraft and its passengers would return “towards India”, declared the president of Châlons-en-Champagne François Procureur during a press briefing, information which he said he had from state lawyers.
A rapid departure of these Indians, two of whom are still in police custody, is all the more likely as the courts canceled on Sunday, for three of them, the procedure of being held for three days in the airport hall. . Customs subsequently waived the procedure for the other passengers.
Unaccompanied minors
It appears in particular, according to an order from a judge of freedoms and detention (JLD) consulted by AFP, that the passengers were held for several hours “without knowing the reasons” at the start of the procedure and without being informed of their rights “within a reasonable time”, which constitutes “a disproportionate attack on human rights”.
Several JLDs were mobilized on Sunday for a major operation on Christmas Eve in a building adjacent to the terminal, in order to decide whether these passengers should remain in the waiting area.
The Airbus A340 of these 303 Indians, which was flying between Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Managua, capital of Nicaragua, landed on Thursday afternoon in Vatry, 150 km from Paris, to refuel.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS NASCIMBENI, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Legend Airlines Airbus A340
But this simple technical stopover turned into a long immobilization after an “anonymous report” according to which passengers were “likely to be victims of human trafficking” in an organized gang, the Paris prosecutor’s office told AFP on Friday .
According to a source close to the matter, these Indians, probably workers in the United Arab Emirates, could have planned to go to Central America in order to then try to enter illegally into the United States or Canada.
Among them are 11 unaccompanied minors, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office.
Police custody in progress
The investigation, carried out by the National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organized Crime (JUNALCO), aims to “verify whether any elements would corroborate” suspicions of human trafficking, according to the prosecution.
Two police custody which began on Friday were still in progress on Sunday, the Paris prosecutor’s office told AFP. They aim to “verify” whether the role of these two people “could have been different from that of the others”.
Ten asylum requests had also been filed late Saturday afternoon, according to a source close to the case. Representatives of the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) were present on Sunday.
The Marne prefecture specifies that individual beds, toilets and showers have been installed in the waiting area of the airport and that a “family” zone, to ensure parent-child privacy”, has been put in place.
Bute Prosecutor was concerned about “problems of cramped conditions and poor living conditions” in this area created by prefectural decree on Thursday evening.
According to the specialized site Flightradar, Legend Airlines, which chartered the flight, is a small company whose fleet is made up of four planes, including two A340-313s.