The legal representative of the airline, whose plane was reportedly involved in a ‘donkey flight’ and was grounded in France, has asserted that a majority of the passengers held reservations for accommodations and return tickets destined for Nicaragua, the airline’s intended final stop. Authorities have disclosed that out of the 303 passengers on the aircraft, 299 were identified as Indian nationals, and the grounding occurred following a tip-off suggesting the likelihood of human trafficking victimization.
Credible sources had earlier informed the news agency AFP that the airplane might be linked to a criminal syndicate engaged in attempting to smuggle individuals into the United States. Nicaragua, situated in Central America, has witnessed a notable increase in instances of Indians seeking illegal entry into the US.
In an exclusive statement to NDTV on Tuesday, Liliana Bakayoko, the legal representative of Legend Airlines based in Romania, clarified, “I am the company’s lawyer. My colleagues, who represented the passengers in court, informed the media that those they defended possessed return tickets and hotel reservations. The details of the return tickets, however, are unclear, possibly not scheduled for the immediate following day.” The legal representative
When it was pointed out to her that, according to available information, only 12 of the 303 passengers had a return ticket, Ms Bakayoko said, “The company’s aeroplane was hired by a client, which is a foreign company, to perform such flights. According to my colleagues in France, all the passengers they defended, almost all of them had return tickets and hotel reservations. But it is true that only three passengers were heard by the judge”.