Nicaraguan flight passengers: 2/3 from Punjab; more than 60 from Gujarat
Gujarat and Punjab Police formed special probe teams to unearth the illegal immigration syndicates after the French Police stopped the chartered flight from Dubai to Nicaragua, the previous week. Out of the total 276 Indians, two-thirds of the travellers are from the State of Punjab, and more than 60 persons are from the State of Gujarat. France few days back deported them back to India.
These passengers were on their bid to illegal entry into the USA via Mexico through Nicaragua. The Indians were brought to Dubai on tourist visas by the illegal immigration rackets and were travelling to Nicaragua with valid Nicaraguan visas. Some of them had return tickets also, said Punjab Police officers, probing the role of some travel agents working at Village to District level in facilitating illegal immigration.
Police in Punjab and Gujarat have started probing whether there was an agency or an organized syndicate behind sending hundreds of people to Dubai and then to Latin American countries to enter the USA illegally via Mexico or Canada. Most of them had valid Nicaraguan visas. The lawyer of the airline said many passengers had return tickets too and hence there is no evidence that the passengers were planning to go somewhere else from Nicaragua. But agencies said that all the passengers were planning for illegal immigration to the USA and the Chartered Flight companies are also part of these human trafficking rackets.
The Gujarat police formed teams to find the network. The passengers from Gujarat belonged to the Banaskantha, Patan, Mehsana and Anand districts. Superintendent of Police, CID (Crime), Sanjay Kharat said once the passengers reach Gujarat from Mumbai, they will be interrogated to find out about the agents involved in this.
The focus of the investigation will be to find out who are facilitating this kind of trafficking, who were opting for it, and how many people have been flown abroad this way. The CID has so far received raw information regarding the agents involved in illegal immigration. The agents working at the village and district levels are small players controlled by a kingpin who works at the international level, said the police officer.
The Punjab Police officials said that aware of the details of the passengers, most of those who were deported back are in their mid-20s or early 30s and had a valid Nicaragua visa. “The passengers on the chartered plane reached Dubai a few months back on tourist visas or work visas. From the UAE, they boarded the flight to Nicaragua. But French authorities grounded the plane and alleged that the passengers were probably headed to sneak to the US via Mexico,” said officials.
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