Several passengers on Nicaragua-bound ‘donkey flight’ ‘couldn’t explain’ why they boarded the charter flight

Officials say passengers can’t explain why they paid their agents huge sums of money to board the flight

The 21 Indian passengers of the Nicaragua-bound flight of Legend Airlines which was grounded for suspected human trafficking in France, have failed to explain why they boarded the chartered plane.

The passengers were asked to record their statements by India’s Central Investigative Department (CID) on Friday, according to local media reports.

Many of the passengers have maintained that they were travelling to Nicaragua as tourists, CID officers told The Indian Express newspaper.

However, an unnamed officer told the newspaper that the passengers were “unable to explain” why they boarded the dubious flight which had mostly “single persons and unaccompanied minors”.

“They had valid documents to procure visas on arrival and some even had tourist visas,” the official said.

“They also can’t explain why they paid their agents huge sums of money to board the flight…”

An officer said they were also questioned by the department if they had any plans to cross into the United States of America illegally after reaching Latin America.

“There was a rumour they had planned to enter the US illegally after landing in Nicaragua,” S P Rajkumar, additional director general of police, CID - Crime and Railways, told The Hindustan Times.

“We are going into the details to find out who were the agents behind their trip.”

The flight, an Airbus A340 carrying 276 passengers, including 65 from Gujarat, was grounded for four days in France last week over suspected human trafficking, sparking speculations over illegal immigration.

The flight landed in Mumbai on 26 December and it has been a mystery ever since. What adds to the complexity of the situation is the significant sums of money passengers allegedly paid to local agents facilitating their journey.

While at least two agents have been named by the passengers, the CID said that no legal action can be taken against them without concrete evidence of forged documents or a formal complaint from a passenger.

“The CID (crime) wants to take action against agents who had promised help to the victims to enter the US and other countries (illegally),” Sanjay Kharat, superintendent of police, CID (Crime), said last week.