Nearly three weeks after a Nicaragua-bound plane carrying Indians was grounded in France and later sent to India, the Gujarat CID has booked 14 agents on the charges of “human trafficking” and “causing disappearance of evidence” for trying to send over 60 people from Gujarat to the US illegally. At least 66 people from the state were among the 303 on board the Legend Airlines plane that flew from Fujairah in the UAE and was headed to Nicaragua to eventually take the passengers to the US via the Mexico border “illegally”, as per officials. In an FIR lodged on Wednesday, based on a complaint filed by PJ Kharsan, an inspector at CID Crime's Economic Offence branch, the Gujarat CID accused the agents of a “well-planned conspiracy to obtain financial benefits of crores of rupees and luring the passengers to get employment in America, while putting (the) passengers’ lives at risk”. Of the 14 accused, at least seven agents were booked for human trafficking, destruction of evidence, and conspiracy are from the Mehsana, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, and Valsad districts of Gujarat. The key accused involved in the network are from Delhi, Dubai, Nicaragua, Mexico, and the US, as per the officials. One of the accused, Jayeshbhai Patel, a Valsad-based agent, allegedly arranged the passengers' transit from Managua in Nicaragua, as per the FIR. The FIR details the commission of offences by the accused from July 1, 2023, until January 10 this year. Mukesh Patel, Superintendent of Police at CID Crime Gandhinagar, said none of the accused have been apprehended so far. Additional Director General of Police (Crime & Railways) Rajkumar Pandian told reporters on Friday that the agents “tutored” the passengers “to seek asylum” if they were caught while crossing the border. “The agencies teach them to say that they are Khalistani (separatists) if they are Punjabis to easily get asylum. People from Gujarat — depending on their age group, religion, and community — tell fabricated stories to get an asylum. The people who get caught by Border Patrol use these (stories). Those who do not get caught illegally cross the borders,” Pandian said. He said the passengers agreed to pay between Rs 60-80 lakh to the agents once they arrived in the US. The flight from Dubai that stopped at Châlons Vatry Airport in France for refueling had 303 passengers aboard. Of them, 260 were Indian passport holders and 66 were from Gujarat. “These people were from Mehsana, Gandhinagar, Anand, and Ahmedabad districts of Gujarat state,” according to the FIR. Of the 66, some got in touch with the agents nearly six months ago and some other agents a couple of months ago with a plan to reach the US, it said.
