Paris: A Romanian aircraft carrying 276 passengers, mostly Indians, on Monday left for India four days after they were detained by the French authorities at an airport near Paris over suspected "human trafficking."
"The plane, which had been grounded since Thursday, departed shortly after 14:30 p.m (local time)," BFM TV, a French news broadcast television and radio network, reported.
The Nicaragua-bound charter flight that took off from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates carrying 303 passengers was grounded at the Vatry airport, 150 km east of Paris, on Thursday over suspected "human trafficking".
On Sunday, the French authorities allowed the A340 aircraft, operated by Romanian company Legend Airlines, to resume its journey.
According to the Marne prefecture, the plane had 276 passengers on board. Indeed, 25, including two minors, have expressed the wish to apply for asylum and are therefore still on French soil. Two others, who were brought before a judge today, have been released and placed on assisted witness status, the channel said.
The asylum application will be analysed at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport.
Earlier, the plane was expected to take off around 10 am. However, the departure of the aircraft was delayed as some of the passengers did not want to return to their country of origin, media reports said.
"Thank French Gov and Vatry Airport for quick resolution of the situation enabling Indian passengers to return home & hospitality. Also for working closely with embassy team, present throughout at the site to ensure welfare and smooth & safe return. Thank agencies in India, too," the Indian Embassy in France said in a post on X.
It is reported that the plane will first land in the UAE and then proceed to Mumbai.
The situation was for a while confusing, according to the airline's lawyer, Liliana Bakayoko.
Speaking to BFMTV, she said that some passengers did not want to return to their country of origin and that they had refused to board the plane initially this Monday morning.
"Some of the passengers would be unhappy with this return because they wanted to continue their journey to Nicaragua as planned," the French news broadcast television and radio network reported.
"We are very relieved. We were impatiently waiting for this," the lawyer for the airline was quoted as saying by the channel.
The lawyer added that the company will continue to be "available to investigators", and "will seek damages from its client because it has suffered significant harm".
On Sunday, the airport was turned into a makeshift courtroom and four French judges questioned the detained passengers. The hearings were conducted as part of the investigation opened by the Paris prosecutor's office on suspicion of human trafficking.
According to the French media, some of the passengers spoke Hindi and others Tamil.
After authorising the plane to leave, the French judges on Sunday chose to cancel the hearings of the passengers due to irregularities in the procedure.
The passengers include a 21-month-old child and 11 unaccompanied minors.
The police custody measures for two passengers of the flight were lifted on Monday. The two men were taken into custody on Friday on suspicion of having played a role in what could be an illegal immigration ring. Their detention was extended on Saturday for up to 48 hours.
The Public Prosecutor's Office specifies that a judicial investigation has been opened for aiding the illegal entry and stay of foreigners in the territory as part of an organised gang and participation in a criminal association.
The airline's lawyer has denied any involvement in the trafficking.
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, Bakayoko said.
Human trafficking carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in France.
According to the reports, the travel may have been planned by the Indian passengers to reach Central America from where they can attempt to enter the United States or Canada illegally. But an anonymous tip indicated that passengers were likely to be victims of human trafficking in an organised gang.
