Indian passengers detained in France cleared of trafficking suspicion and released

Twenty-five Indian passengers, who were held in France on suspicion of trafficking, have been released by a judge. 

The passengers were allowed to go as the border police at Charles De Gaulle airport in France didn’t refer their case within the required time, as stated by prosecutors on Wednesday.

The group of 25 passengers, including minors seeking asylum in France, boarded a flight from Dubai, operated by Romanian company Legend Airlines, aiming to reach Nicaragua. However, a scheduled stopover in Vatry airport, France, on December 21 led to a four-day grounding of the plane after an anonymous tip-off.

The passengers faced allegations of human trafficking, but investigations revealed they had boarded the plane voluntarily. Consequently, the trafficking charges against them were dropped, and they were released on Tuesday.

Out of the 25 individuals, five were minors who were taken into the care of child welfare services. Meanwhile, the remaining 276 passengers on the flight were earlier sent back to India. 

While these 25 passengers are now free to decide their course of action, two individuals remain in France under suspicion of people trafficking, as per police questioning.

The public prosecutor's office in Bobigny clarified that even though some of these passengers might have an irregular status in France, they are permitted to make their own choices while on French territory.

The judge's decision to release them was based on procedural grounds, emphasising that the authorities hadn’t referred the case within the legal timeframe.