The plane, which has been immobilized since Thursday at Vatry airport (Marne), took off again on Monday December 25 at 2:35 p.m. for Bombay, with 276 Indian passengers on board out of the initial 303, the two passengers suspected of being smugglers having for their part were left free by the courts.
In addition to these two Indians, twenty-five others, including five minors – and not two as initially said by the authorities – remain for the moment in France after having made an asylum request. This will be analyzed at Charles-de-Gaulle airport, said the Marne prefecture in a press release, and they “will benefit from an interview with Ofpra [Office français de protection des réfugiés et apatrides] ».
The Airbus A340 of the small Romanian company Legend Airlines, blocked at Vatry airport (Marne) since Thursday afternoon following suspicions of human trafficking, flew to Bombay, a- she clarified.
The two Indians suspected of being smugglers, born in 2000 and 1984, were not indicted, but placed under the more favorable status of assisted witnesses and therefore emerged free on Monday after their interrogation before an investigating judge Parisian.
Me Salomé Cohen, lawyer for one of the two accused, greeted AFP “the extremely precise and careful reading of the investigating judge, who was able to get rid of the media coverage of this case”. They were issued with obligations to leave French territory (OQTF), their lawyers reported to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
A judicial investigation for assistance in the entry and illegal stay of foreigners in the territory in organized gangs and participation in a criminal association was opened by the National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organized Crime (Junalco), said the prosecution. .
An anonymous report
The qualification of human trafficking by an organized gang was not accepted at this stage, because the 303 Indians would have voluntarily boarded this plane, according to a source close to the matter. The courts lifted the seizure of the device on Sunday, and the authorities then tried to“obtain the necessary authorizations” when it takes off again.
Boarding took several hours. The flight attendants boarded around midday, then passengers, some wearing turbans, arrived in clusters, aboard buses, and boarded via a covered ramp.
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The plane was initially only supposed to make a technical stopover of one hour in Vatry, time to refuel on its journey linking Dubai (United Arab Emirates) to Managua, capital of Nicaragua, where passengers were heard by the courts on Sunday said they wanted to go for a tourist trip.
But he was immobilized following a “anonymous report” according to which passengers were “likely to be victims of human trafficking” in an organized gang, the Paris prosecutor’s office explained to AFP on Friday.
The legality of the procedure called into question
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.
“We don’t know if it’s human trafficking, migrant smuggling or neither… But we still kept 303 people in an airport for three nights and three days. people who were on a stopover, men, women and children. It is surprising “reacted to AFP on Sunday Geneviève Colas, coordinator for Secours catholique-Caritas of the Collective against trafficking in human beings. “If they are truly victims of trafficking, it is not normal to simply send them back to another country”had judged Mme Colas.
According to the Marne prefecture, individual beds, toilets and showers had been installed in the waiting area of the airport, created from scratch to deal with this unprecedented situation. The President of Châlons-en-Champagne, Me François Procureur, was moved on Sunday to “problems of cramped conditions and poor living conditions”.
“Thank you to the French government and Vatry airport for the rapid resolution of the situation”reacted the Indian embassy in France on X.
Justice had questioned on Sunday the legality of the procedure keeping the passengers in this waiting zone, deeming it illegal for the first three passengers interviewed by a judge of freedoms and detention.