Indian passengers have been confined since Thursday evening at an airport in Marne after their plane was grounded, amid suspicions of human trafficking.
The French authorities hope to obtain “Monday morning at the latest” authorizations to re-route by plane Indian passengers confined since Thursday evening in a Marne airport after their aircraft was grounded, amid suspicions of human trafficking.
The Paris prosecutor’s office told AFP that the courts had authorized the plane in question to leave the Marne.
“This decision makes it possible to consider the rerouting of passengers placed in the waiting zone” in the airport, the prefecture then announced in a press release, without giving details of any destination.
“Therefore, the competent authorities of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) are working to obtain the necessary authorizations for the aircraft to take off again, which should take place no later than Monday morning”she added.
The possibility of departure of these Indian passengers, 303 in total, but two of whom are still in police custody, is reinforced by the cancellation by the courts for a first passenger of the procedure keeping them in the airport for three days , a decision that could apply to others.
“Bad life conditions”
This cancellation, decided by a judge of freedoms and detention (JLD), is explained in particular by the waiting period of 11 hours between the moment when the plane was immobilized and when a JLD was seized, this which is “a disproportionate attack on human rights”according to the order consulted by AFP.
“It is very likely that the other files will follow the same path”said the President of Châlons-en-Champagne, François Procureur, during a press briefing after this decision.
These JLDs had been mobilized for a major operation on Christmas Eve in a building adjacent to the terminal, in order to decide on the retention of these passengers in the waiting zone.
Earlier on Sunday, François Procureur was moved to “problems of cramped conditions and poor living conditions” in this waiting zone created by prefectural decree Thursday evening.
The 303 Indian passengers on the flight operated by the Romanian company Legend Airlines between Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Managua, capital of Nicaragua, have been confined since Thursday afternoon, after the immobilization of their Airbus A340 arriving in Vatry, 150 km away from Paris, to refuel.
What was only supposed to be a technical stopover turned into a long immobilization after a “anonymous reporting” 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.
11 unaccompanied minors
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 eleven unaccompanied minors, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office.
The investigation, carried out by the National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organized Crime (Junalco), aims to “check if there is any corroborating evidence” suspicion of human trafficking, according to the prosecution.
Two police custody started on Friday “extended on Saturday evening, for a maximum duration of 48 hours”indicated the Paris prosecutor’s office to AFP, “in order to check” if the role of these two people “may have been different from that of others”.
Ten asylum requests had also been filed late Saturday afternoon, according to a source close to the case.
The Marne prefecture specifies that individual beds, toilets and showers have been installed, as well as a “family zone to ensure parent-child privacy”.
The thirty crew members concerned either by the Dubai-Vatry connection, or by the Vatry-Managua route, were “allowed to leave freely”assured AFP Liliana Bakayoko, who presents herself as the airline’s lawyer.
According to the specialized site Flightradar, Legend Airlines is a small company whose fleet is made up of four planes.