CONCERNING

France Grounds Plane With 300 Indian Passengers for Suspected Trafficking

According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the passengers may have been planning to illegally enter the United States or Canada.

France grounded a Nicaragua-bound plane carrying more than 300 Indian passengers over suspected “human trafficking,” local authorities said on Friday. Paris’ public prosecution office said officials were warned about the situation by an anonymous tip, and an organized crime investigation group apprehended two people. Reuters stated that the aircraft, belonging to Legend Airlines, a Romanian company, had taken off from Dubai and landed at Châlons Vatry Airport in northeastern France on Thursday for a technical stop. According to a statement from the prefect’s office in Marne, police then moved in. “The reception hall at Vatry airport was transformed into a waiting area with individual beds to provide passengers with the best possible reception conditions,” the office continued. Barron’s reported that, according to a source with knowledge of the incident, the passengers may have been planning to illegally enter the United States or Canada. Neither Legend Airlines nor the Indian Foreign Ministry responded to Reuters’ request for comment.