Two detained on suspected human trafficking after plane carrying hundreds of Indian citizens grounded in France
Two people have been detained after a plane carrying 303 Indian citizens was grounded in France over human trafficking allegations.
Those on board the charter flight run by Romanian company Legend Airlines – including a 21-month-old toddler – were travelling from Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates to Managua, Nicaragua.
But the A340 plane was grounded at Vatry Airport, a small hub in Champagne, northeastern France, on Thursday, following a tip-off that the passengers may be the victims of people smugglers.
The two passengers were detained as part of an investigation by French police into suspected human trafficking by an organised crime group.
Legend Airlines lawyer Liliana Bakayoko said the company hoped the plane could head to Mumbai, India, on Monday, ”with as many passengers as possible”.
It is not clear whether the passengers, who have been kept at the airport, will be allowed to continue to Nicaragua.
In France, foreigners can be held for up to four days in a transit zone for police investigations, after which a special judge must rule on whether to extend that for eight days.
The plane has been grounded since Thursday. Pic: AP
Passengers sleep on camp beds
While the airport was transformed into a hub for the human trafficking investigation, all other flights were cancelled or rerouted.
All 15 crew members were questioned and released, according to a lawyer for the airline, who said they are deeply shaken by what happened.
Passengers were held in the airport, where they spent three nights on camp beds, according to an official with the local administration.
Some onboard were unaccompanied children, according to the local civil protection agency.
Emergency workers, Red Cross workers, a doctor and local volunteers arrived at the scene to look after the needs of the passengers, including providing regular meals, medical care and access to toilets and showers, the administration said in a statement on Saturday.
Canvas put up to protect passengers’ privacy. Pic: AP
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The Indian Embassy in France posted on X that embassy staff had obtained consular access to the passengers.
“I’m surprised at how things unfolded in the waiting area. People should have been informed of their rights, and clearly that was not the case,” Francois Procureur, the head of the Chalons-en-Champagne Bar Association, told BFM television.
He called the mass, hasty airport hearings “unprecedented”.
Airline denies role in possible human trafficking
Ms Bakayoko said Legend Airlines denies any role in possible human trafficking, and welcomed the release of the plane and its crew after questioning as “good news for the airline”.
A “partner” company that chartered the plane was responsible for verifying the identity documents of each passenger, and communicated the passengers’ passport information to the airline 48 hours before the flight, the lawyer said.
The customer, which she would not identify but said was not a European company, had chartered multiple flights on Legend Airlines from Dubai to Nicaragua, some of which had already made the journey without incident, she said.
The crew members, who are of multiple nationalities, “are rather traumatised”, she said, adding: “They wrote me messages that they want to see their families for Christmas.”
While it is not certain the Indians’ destination was the US, Nicaragua has frequently been used as a springboard for migrants because of relaxed or visa-free entry requirements for some nationalities.
Charter flights are sometimes used to make the journey before migrants travel north by bus with the help of smugglers.
The US is dealing with record numbers of people trying to reach the US border from Mexico with the issue of border security becoming a key Republican line of attack ahead of the 2024 election.
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
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More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
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