Gujarat passengers on ‘Dunki’ flight had offered Rs 60-80 lakh for illegal US entry

Sixty-six people who were on board the Nicaragua-bound plane which was sent back from France over suspicions of human trafficking were from Gujarat and had agreed to pay Rs 60-80 lakh to immigration agents to illegally cross into the US, said officials of the state Crime Investigation Department (CID). 

The flight from Dubai to Nicaragua had 303 passengers on board who were stopped by authorities in France’s Vatry airport on December 21 over suspicions of human trafficking. After the passengers were questioned by authorities there, the flight was allowed to leave and landed in Mumbai on December 26.

Superintendent of Police, CID – Crime and Railways, Sanjay Kharat, who is investigating the case, said on Tuesday that the 66 Gujarat natives, including some minors, were mainly from Mehsana, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Anand districts. 

“We have already questioned 55 of them and recorded their statements. The majority of them studied till classes 8 to 12. Each of them admitted that they had agreed to pay Rs 60 lakh to Rs 80 lakh to the local immigration agents to help them cross into the US illegally after reaching Nicaragua via Dubai,” he was quoted as saying by PTI news agency.

The probe agency has also acquired the names and contact numbers of nearly 15 agents who had promised to help these 55 persons enter the US illegally through the US-Mexico border.

According to the official, the agents told the Gujarat natives that they would have to pay the money only after they reached the US. 

“The agents had told the passengers that their men would take them to the US border from Nicaragua and then help them cross the border. It was also revealed that the agents had also booked air tickets for these passengers and gave USD 1,000 to 3,000 (approximately Rs 83,300 to Rs 2.5 lakh) to each passenger to deal with any emergency situation,” said Kharat.

As per the plan devised by the agents, the 66 passengers reached Dubai from Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Delhi between December 10 and 20. Afterwards, they boarded the Nicaragua-bound aircraft in Dubai on the directions of the agents, according to a release by the CID. 

The CID has also written to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to help it collect more information about the agents who had acquired the Dubai visa of these 55 passengers, bank details of agents who had paid the visa fee from his account, how the agents managed to acquire visa of Nicaragua from Dubai and who booked the flight from Dubai and paid money for the tickets of passengers.