France’s authorities have grounded an Indian plane heading to Nicaragua with 300 Indian passengers on board, suspected of ‘human trafficking’.
The Airbus A340 was flying from the United Arab Emirates to the Nicaraguan capital, Managua and was grounded during a technical stopover at a small France airport after an “anonymous tip-off”, prosecutors say.
Several passengers are confined in the airport, which police have sealed off and an investigation has been launched into the conditions and purpose of the trip, local officials said.
They added that some of the passengers were believed to be illegal migrants. Two passengers have been taken into custody.
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The aircraft is owned by Romanian charter company Legend Airlines. A lawyer for the firm, Liliana Bakayoko, told French news channel BFMTV that it was ready to cooperate with the French authorities and hoped the plane could be on its way in the next couple of days.
