At least 21 Gujarat passengers were interrogated by the Gujarat State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) over suspicions of involvement in an illegal immigration and human trafficking racket. These individuals were passengers on the Legend Airlines flight to Nicaragua, which returned from Vatry Airport in France and landed on Wednesday.
According to officials, besides the passengers, their relatives will also be interrogated by the state CID to determine if they were involved in an illegal immigration racket.
On Wednesday, 21 passengers from Gujarat were among the 276 Indians stranded on a chartered plane in Varty, France, while travelling from Fujairah, UAE, to Nicaragua. All these passengers hailed from districts including Banaskantha, Mehsana, Gandhinagar, Anand, and Patan.
Special teams from the state CID have been assembled to investigate the alleged human trafficking and illegal immigration racket, intending to track down agents suspected of assisting Gujarati residents in their travel to Nicaragua, purportedly with intentions to enter the United States of America.
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As district police teams search for around six Gujarati agents involved in the racket, Sanjay Kharat, Superintendent of Police, CID, told The Indian Express that CID teams will begin questioning the 21 passengers. “The 21 passengers have returned to Gujarat. They are mostly from North Gujarat– largely from Mehsana, Gandhinagar and Anand districts. There are some from other districts too. We have a list of a total of 21 people as of now, who we have zeroed upon. We are waiting for official confirmation from immigration department (if more returning passengers from Gujarat were onboard the flight)… Teams of the CID will now reach out to them to get details of their travel,” he said.
“We are also using technical analysis to ascertain if there is a common point of contact for them. We are investigating their purpose of travel to Nicaragua and we suspect it to be a part of the illegal immigration (to the US or Canada). The relatives of the passengers will also be questioned.” the officer added, according to IE.
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Kharat said that CID investigations will also scrutinise the authenticity of travel documents and if passengers were deceived by agents. He further assured that they will verify leads with evidence and legal action will be taken against the involved agents.
Simultaneously, searches have been conducted by Mehsana district police involving the suspension of Kiran Patel, an agent linked to the recent flight to Managua, Nicaragua. Patel, known for involvement in illegal immigration, is believed to be in Ahmedabad but has remained untraceable since the flight’s grounding in France.