France grounds plane bound to Nicaragua with 300 Indians on board over suspected case of 'human trafficking'

A Nicaragua-bound plane carrying more than 300 Indian passengers has been grounded in France over suspected “human trafficking”, authorities said Friday. The aircraft was detained on Thursday after an anonymous tipoff, Paris prosecutors said. It had taken off from the United Arab Emirates. French media including BFM TV and France 3 reported that authorities were probing suspicions of human trafficking. The flight, carried out by a Romanian charter company, had departed from Dubai on Thursday and landed at the small Vatry airport for a technical stopover when police intervened, the Marne prefect’s office said in an e-mailed statement. “The reception hall at Vatry airport was transformed into a waiting area with individual beds to provide passengers with the best possible reception conditions”, it said, adding that a judicial investigation had been opened. With inputs from agencies.