flight 21 on board Nicaragua detained, questioned in Guj

At least 21 passengers who returned to Ahmedabad after being sent back from France while on their way to Nicaragua have been detained and are being questioned, state police officials said on Friday in connection with its investigation into what appears to be a sprawling illegal immigration racket.

- Leena Dhankhar, Maulik Pathak

The passengers are being questioned at the Gandhinagar Crime Investigation Department (CID) Police Bhawan and officials aware of the matter said while all of them claimed they were on a legitimate trip for tourism and had valid documents, they offered names of agents who booked their travel, giving potential new leads to the investigators.

"They have revealed a list of private travel agents and consultants who facilitated their travel. owever, they have not complained against anyone and said they were only going to travel and had plans to return. They said they have not done anything illegal or taken any illegal route to travel to Nicaragua," said a CID officer asking not to be named. He added that the group of people, though unrelated, were in contact with lawyers and appeared to be on the same page.