Donkey flights
LESS than five months after a Nicaragua-bound chartered plane, carrying mostly Indians, landed in Mumbai after running into trouble with the French authorities, a flight with 200-odd Indians on board was sent back to Dubai from Jamaica as immigration officials detected discrepancies in the passengers’ documents. The group was reportedly transiting through the Caribbean country, with some of its travellers destined for Nicaragua ‘in the hope of participating in a major housing development project’.
The Nicaragua angle has again turned the spotlight on the menace of donkey/dunki flights. Unscrupulous travel agents arrange such flights to Central American nations with the aim of facilitating passengers’ illegal entry into the US. Nicaragua is popular among migrants apparently due to the ease of obtaining travel papers for the purpose. In January, the Gujarat Crime Investigation Department had said that the 66 passengers from the state on the chartered flight that was grounded at Vatry airport in France in December 2023 on the suspicion of human trafficking had agreed to pay Rs 60-80 lakh to agents to illegally migrate to the US. Some passengers had allegedly paid an advance of up to Rs 8 lakh. At that time, the Punjab Police had formed an SIT to probe the case as several passengers were from the northern state.
It is obvious that an international network of agents — hand in glove with officials at every stage — is helping illegal migrants move from one country to another. The desperate travellers are risking life and limb, besides their life savings, to reach their final destination. Close coordination between agencies of various countries is needed to bust the flourishing human trafficking racket. It is a cause for concern that many unauthorised agents continue to ply their trade despite the frequently reported cases of boat tragedies and grounded flights. The Indian authorities must get their act together as the repeated involvement of its nationals in such illicit activities is an embarrassment for the nation.
