the two police custody periods are extended

Since Thursday, a Legend Airlines A340 has been grounded at Paris-Vatry airport for suspicion of human trafficking. The 303 people who were on board the plane are all Indian nationals.

The two police custody periods were extended on Saturday December 23, reports the Paris prosecutor’s office in the case of the plane immobilized in the Marne on suspicion of human trafficking.

The two passengers have been heard from since Friday evening and are still heard from today. The goal : “check if their role could have been different from that of the others in this transport, and once again under what conditions and with what objective”, explains the prosecution. From a source close to the case, the administrative detention of these people can last up to 96 hours.

Since Thursday, a Legend Airlines A340 has been grounded at Paris-Vatry airport for suspicion of human trafficking. The prosecution specified this Saturday evening that the 303 people who were on board the plane were all of Indian nationality. Among them are 11 unaccompanied minors who have been assigned administrators “ad hoc”, continues the prosecution. All adult passengers were interviewed.

Suspicion of human trafficking by organized gang

The plane was carrying Indian passengers from the United Arab Emirates to “maybe intermediate” of Nicaragua, writes the prosecution. These people are likely to be victims of human trafficking. “Given the number of people concerned and the international nature of the potential investigations to be carried out, it was Junalco (National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organized Crime) which took over the investigation to check whether any elements would corroborate the suspicion of trafficking human beings in organized gangs”. This crime carries a penalty of 20 years of criminal imprisonment and a fine of 3 million euros.

For the lawyer and president of the Reims bar, Pascal Guillaume, contacted by France Bleu Champagne-Ardenne, “this is unheard of for our department. It’s unusual, we’re not used to it”. Concerning the legal procedure which is being put in place, he explains that this Sunday from 9 a.m. more than a hundred hearings will begin at the airport. These hearings will take place before a liberty and detention judge. “It concerns no less than 130 people to represent”, estimates the president. These hearings must therefore last between three and four days.

A “monster organization” for audiences

In detail, specifies François President President of the Châlons-en-Champagne bar, who also manages the legal procedure, “There will be four simultaneous hearings. For each hearing, we need a judge of liberties, a lawyer, a clerk and a translator. So I have to find other lawyers to rotate. All this during the Christmas period, it’s is a monster organization”. Even almost impossible for the department according to the President: “We don’t know how to do this kind of thing. Normally, in accustomed departments, people are helped by several associations. We don’t. We can accommodate migrants in centers. We don’t. […] The state services want to settle everything in Vatry, it seems very complicated to me”.

Other information provided by the president of Châlons-en-Champagne, this time concerning the passengers who will not participate in the hearings, the plane will not take them back to Nicaragua, the initially planned destination: “They will surely have to return to India”. He adds that 58 passengers requested political asylum in France.