AHMEDABAD: CID (Crime) officers probing the human smuggling case after France grounded last month a chartered flight carrying 303 Indians, including 96 Gujaratis, during a refuelling stop at Vatry airport near Paris, on Friday said that the human smugglers had told illegal emigrants from Punjab to seek asylum in the US claiming they were Khalistan supporters in case they were caught by security agencies. This is because Khalistan supporters have been agitating against the Indian state there.
Sources in the police said those from Gujarat were told to seek asylum either as Congress or AAP workers on the grounds of political persecution. Newlyweds or young couples were told to seek asylum on the grounds of inter-caste marriage or family feuds. Gujarat ADGP CID (Crime) Rajkumar Pandian said they have booked 14 agents for human smuggling, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy. “The procedure to issue look-out circulars against the 14 agents, many of whom are abroad, will be taken up very soon,” Pandian said.
He said the agents made the emigrants delete messages and destroy evidence, but the CID succeeded in retrieving some of them.
The agents booked by CID were named as Joginder alias Jaggi Paji and Joginder Mansaram from Delhi; Salim Dubai and Sam Paji from Dubai; Chandresh Patel, Sandip Patel and Kiran Patel from Mehsana; Bhargav Darji, Jayesh Patel, Biren Patel, Arpit Jhala and Piyush Barot from Gandhinagar; and Raju Panchal and Raja Bhai from Mumbai.
France had grounded the chartered flight for suspected human trafficking after receiving a tip-off. It had taken off from Dubai and was to head for Nicaragua. On December 24, a court set up at Vatry airport ordered the release of the passengers and allowed the flight to take off for Mumbai. However, only 276 people landed in Mumbai. The human smugglers had chartered the flight to Nicaragua from UAE. They planned to send the flyers to Mexico, from where they would cross into the US.
Sources in the police said those from Gujarat were told to seek asylum either as Congress or AAP workers on the grounds of political persecution. Newlyweds or young couples were told to seek asylum on the grounds of inter-caste marriage or family feuds. Gujarat ADGP CID (Crime) Rajkumar Pandian said they have booked 14 agents for human smuggling, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy. “The procedure to issue look-out circulars against the 14 agents, many of whom are abroad, will be taken up very soon,” Pandian said.
He said the agents made the emigrants delete messages and destroy evidence, but the CID succeeded in retrieving some of them.
The agents booked by CID were named as Joginder alias Jaggi Paji and Joginder Mansaram from Delhi; Salim Dubai and Sam Paji from Dubai; Chandresh Patel, Sandip Patel and Kiran Patel from Mehsana; Bhargav Darji, Jayesh Patel, Biren Patel, Arpit Jhala and Piyush Barot from Gandhinagar; and Raju Panchal and Raja Bhai from Mumbai.
France had grounded the chartered flight for suspected human trafficking after receiving a tip-off. It had taken off from Dubai and was to head for Nicaragua. On December 24, a court set up at Vatry airport ordered the release of the passengers and allowed the flight to take off for Mumbai. However, only 276 people landed in Mumbai. The human smugglers had chartered the flight to Nicaragua from UAE. They planned to send the flyers to Mexico, from where they would cross into the US.
