Dubai-Jamaica chartered flight, with several Indians onboard, sent back: ’Docs weren’t satisfactory,’ says MEA

A chartered flight carrying Indian passengers from Dubai was denied entry at Kingston Airport by the local authorities in Jamaica, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.

“We are given to understand that a chartered flight from Dubai landed in Jamaica with several Indians onboard. They had prior travel and hotel bookings. However local authorities were not satisfied with their documents. They were sent back to Dubai on 7th May," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

As per media reports, the chartered flight carried nearly 200 Indian passengers for tourism purposes. Despite having prior hotel bookings, Jamaican authorities were not satisfied with their documents and instructed both the flight and passengers to return back to Dubai.

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The reports further said that the chartered flight left Jamaica shortly before noon on May 7. The Jamaican authorities reported that most of the passengers were Indian nationals, while two were from Uzbekistan and Russia.

Earlier in March, some Indian nationals were stuck in Russia amid the ongoing conflict with Ukraine.

The MEA tried very hard with the Russian authorities for the early discharge of the Indian nationals who were stuck there.

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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had busted a major human trafficking network running across the country targeting Indian nationals on the promise of offering lucrative jobs abroad.

The central agency stated that these traffickers have been operating as an organized network and were luring Indian nationals through social media channels like YouTube, etc. and also through their local contacts/agents for highly paid jobs abroad.

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The CBI further stated that the trafficked Indian nationals were trained in combat roles and deployed at front bases in the Russia-Ukraine War zone against their wishes, thus, putting their lives in grave danger. It has been ascertained that some of the victims were also grievously injured in the war zone.