(Vatry) The plane was to connect Dubai to Nicaragua with more than 300 Indians on board: it was immobilized by the French authorities on the tarmac of an airport in Marne and two passengers were placed in police custody, against the background suspicion of “human trafficking”.
This Airbus A340 landed on Thursday afternoon on the runway of the small Vatry airport for a technical stopover. It has been immobilized since, after an “anonymous report” according to which its Indian passengers are “likely to be victims of human trafficking” in an organized gang, the Paris prosecutor’s office explained to AFP in the afternoon. Two of the passengers on this flight were taken into custody, he added.
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.
“Identity checks were carried out on the 303 passengers and on the flight crew”, as well as “verifications of the conditions and objectives of passenger transport”, he said.
According to a source close to the matter, minors are among the passengers on the flight.
A gendarmerie system prevented access to the confined airport on Friday evening, noted an AFP journalist. In front of the terminal, a row of white tarpaulins hides the bay window of the arrival hall.
New night in the airport
According to the Marne prefecture, this plane of the Romanian company, Legend Airlines, has been immobilized since “its landing (Thursday) in the afternoon” and an intervention on board by the air transport gendarmerie brigade.
According to a source close to the matter, these Indian passengers, probably workers in the United Arab Emirates, may have planned to go to Central America in order to then attempt to illegally enter the United States or Canada.
The prefect of Marne has extended by order the waiting area for foreigners to the airport reception hall. Passengers have, according to the prefecture, “individual beds”.
“The company believes that it has nothing to reproach itself for, has committed no offense and is at the disposal of the French authorities,” assured AFP Liliana Bakayoko, who presents herself as the lawyer for Legend Airlines. .
The company intends to “become a civil party if proceedings are initiated by the public prosecutor, or file a complaint” otherwise, she added.
Marne civil protection told AFP that it had deployed beds and showers at the airport, and had mobilized around ten volunteers since Thursday evening, who took turns to accompany passengers.
According to the prefecture, which has opened a crisis unit, the passengers will “spend the night (from Friday to Saturday) at the airport”.
” Crime ”
“The embassy has been granted consular access. We are studying the situation and ensuring the well-being of passengers,” the Indian embassy in France said on X, ex-Twitter.
The law provides that if he arrives in France by plane and is refused boarding to his country of destination, a foreigner can be kept in a waiting zone for a maximum of four days by the border police.
This retention can then be extended by eight days by a detention and liberty judge (JLD), then by an additional eight days exceptionally. At most, depending on the appeals, retention in the reception area can reach 26 days.
The National Directorate of Border Police (notably Oltim, Office for Combating Smuggling of Migrants), the Air Transport Gendarmerie and the Vitry-le-François search brigade were jointly seized, specifies the prosecution .
Human trafficking is a “crime punishable by 20 years of criminal imprisonment and a fine of three million euros,” he emphasizes.
According to the specialized site Flightradar, Legend Airlines is a small company whose fleet is made up of four planes, including two A340-313s.
Vatry airport, located 150 km east of Paris, welcomed 62,000 passengers in 2022, mainly via low-cost airlines, according to the Union of French Airports.