PARIS: Around 300 Indian nationals who were on board a plane grounded in France on suspicion of human trafficking were being cared for on Saturday in the hall of an airport in the eastern region of Marne while an investigation was ongoing, a local official said.
Marne emergency services had installed makeshift beds for the 303 stranded passengers, gave them access to toilets and showers and provided meals and hot drinks at Vatry airport, a spokeswoman for the Marne prefect’s office said.
Officials from the Indian general consulate were visiting them regularly, she added in a statement.
The flight, which was operated by Romanian charter company Legend Airlines, landed at Vatry on Thursday for a technical stopover en route from Dubai when French police intervened, the Marne prefect’s office said on Friday.
It said a judicial investigation into the conditions and purpose of the trip had been launched, with a unit specializing in organized crime investigating suspected human trafficking.
AFP reported the passengers on the grounded plane, which was bound for Nicaragua, included 13 unaccompanied minors.
The Paris public prosecution office said on Friday that two people were held for questioning, adding that authorities had been tipped off by an anonymous informant.
It gave no further information on Saturday.
A lawyer representing Legend Airlines said on Saturday the plane’s crew had been released after questioning.
“The members of the crew have been questioned, the questioning has ended and they are all free to move. None has been put in custody,” Liliana Bakayoko told BFM TV.
The flight was chartered by a “trusted” client, Bakayoko said, adding that it was a non-European company which the airline did not want to name.
Legend Airlines did not understand why the plane had been grounded, she added.
The Indian embassy in Paris and the Indian foreign ministry did not immediately reply to request for comment on Saturday.
French airport provides makeshift base for Indians on grounded flight
https://arab.news/v5jg7
French airport provides makeshift base for Indians on grounded flight
- Marne emergency services had installed makeshift beds for the 303 stranded passengers
- The flight, which was operated by Romanian charter company Legend Airlines, landed at Vatry on Thursday for a technical stopover
Anger as branch of ICE to help with security at Winter Olympics
ROME: A branch of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will help with security for the Winter Olympics in Italy, it confirmed Tuesday, sparking anger and warnings they were not welcome.
Reports had been circulating for days that the agency embroiled in an often brutal immigration crackdown in the United States could be involved in US security measures for the February 6-22 Games in northern Italy.
In a statement overnight to AFP, ICE said: “At the Olympics, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is supporting the US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and host nation to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organizations.
“All security operations remain under Italian authority.”
It’s not known whether the HSI has in the past been involved in the Olympics, or whether this is a first.
According to the ICE website, the HSI investigates global threats, investigating the illegal movement of people, goods, money, contraband, weapons and sensitive technology into, out of, and through the United States.
ICE made clear its operations in Italy were separate from the immigration crackdown, which is being carried out by the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) department.
“Obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries,” it said.
The protection of US citizens during Olympic Games overseas is led by the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS).
Yet the outrage over ICE immigration operations in the United States is shared among many in Italy, following the deaths of two civilians during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.
The leftist mayor of Milan, which is hosting several Olympic events, said ICE was “not welcome.”
“This is a militia that kills... It’s clear that they are not welcome in Milan, there’s no doubt about it, Giuseppe Sala told RTL 102.5 radio.
“Can’t we just say no to (US President Donald) Trump for once?“
Alessandro Zan, a member of the European Parliament for the center-left Democratic Party, condemned it as “unacceptable.”
“In Italy, we don’t want those who trample on human rights and act outside of any democratic control,” he wrote on X.
Monitoring Vance
Italian authorities initially denied the presence of ICE and then sought to downplay any role, suggesting they would help only in security for the US delegation.
US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are attending the opening ceremony in Milan on February 6.
On Monday, the president of the northern Lombardy region, said their involvement would be limited to monitoring Vance and Rubio.
“It will be only in a defensive role, but I am convinced that nothing will happen,” Attilio Fontana told reporters.
However, his office then issued a statement saying he did not have any specific information on their presence, but was responding to a hypothetical question.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi was quoted as saying late Monday that “ICE, as such, will never operate in Italy.”
The International Olympic Committee when contacted by AFP about the matter replied: “We kindly refer you to the USOPC (the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee).”
Thousands of ICE agents have been deployed by President Donald Trump in various US cities to carry out a crackdown on illegal immigration.
Their actions have prompted widespread protests, and the recent killings of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both 37, on the streets of Minneapolis sparked outrage.
