The investigation is ongoing and until the doubt is resolved, the approximately 300 Indian passengers will remain on the tarmac at Marne airport. A Airbus A340 of the Romanian company Legend Airlines was grounded by the French authorities after suspicions of “human trafficking”.
Now stuck on the ground, the plane landed Thursday afternoon on the runway of the small Vatry airport for a technical stopover. An “anonymous report” accused him of transporting “Indian passengers (…) likely to be victims of human trafficking,” the Paris prosecutor’s office explained to AFP.
Ongoing investigation
The National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organized Crime (Junalco) “resumed the investigation to verify whether any elements would corroborate the suspicion of trafficking in human beings by an organized gang, a crime carrying 20 years of criminal imprisonment and three million euros fine,” adds the prosecution.
“The National Directorate of Border Police, the Air Transport Gendarmerie and the Vitry-le-François research brigade have been jointly contacted and are carrying out hearings and verifications of the conditions and objectives of passenger transport”, also specifies the parquet.
Destination America
According to a source close to the matter, who specifies that the plane stopped in Vatry for a refueling, these Indian passengers, probably workers in the United Arab Emirates, could have wanted to go to Central America in order to then try to enter the United States or Canada illegally.
By two successive decrees published Thursday evening and Friday morning, the prefect of Marne temporarily extended the waiting area for foreigners to the airport reception hall, where passengers have, according to the prefecture, “individual beds”, after having initially been kept on the plane, where they were able to “eat”.