India police hunt kingpins in France people smuggling case

Police in India said on Friday they were working to track down the kingpins of a people smuggling ring uncovered when French authorities halted a planeload of passengers bound for Nicaragua.

The Airbus A340 was detained last week at Vatry airport, east of Paris, where it had stopped for refuelling. It was halted after an anonymous tip-off that it was carrying potential victims of human trafficking, with most of the 303 people aboard flown back to India on Monday.

Passengers had paid "four million to 12.5 million rupees" ($48,000-150,000) to agents to help them reach the southern border of the United States from South America, Gujarat state police superintendent Sanjay Kharat told AFP.

"We want to know how these people came in contact with the agents, or whether the agents contacted them, and what their plan was after reaching Nicaragua," he said.

Of the 276 passengers returned to India, Kharat said 66 were from his state, and police were in the process of interrogating them. "We have identified people who could give us some information into the illegal racket and they are being questioned," he said.

Most of the flight's other passengers were from Punjab state in India's north, where police said they were also conducting a probe. "We are duty-bound to investigate if any illegalities are brought to our notice and we are examining the issue," senior Punjab police official L.K. Yadav told AFP.

Another Punjab police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said officers were trying to understand the scale of the racket and its links to local immigration agents.

The flight was operated by Romanian charter company Legend Airlines, and passengers were put up at Vatry airport during the investigation. Among those staying behind in France were two people questioned by police there over suspected human trafficking.

• Plane stuck for days in France for human trafficking investigation leaves for India