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Probe into human trafficking at Cochin airport

Nedumbassery: Following a flurry of reports on the increase in human trafficking at the Cochin international airport here, the State Home Department has decided to initiate action against corrupt officials at the immigration wing here.

Sources said the Additional Director-General of Police (Intelligence) had launched an investigation based on a report by Immigration Senior Superintendent K.G. James regarding the alleged involvement of some immigration officials in instances of human trafficking.

Three officials, including a top-ranked official, had been asked to appear for an interrogation before the ADGP, and more officials were expected to do so, they said. Investigation was also on to find out how two seals used for immigration clearance had disappeared. Despite fresh measures to tighten passenger clearance, the flow of illegal emigrants through the airport continues to remain high. On June 10, the immigration officials detained three persons who had completed their check-in to board a Doha-bound Qatar Airways flight. The passengers, two men and one woman, were detained during a secondary check-up before they were to taken out of the departure security lounge on the cancellation of the flight.

The incident prompted the immigration department to launch a fresh inquiry into how people continued to evade the immigration network here, and whether any immigration officials were involved. There were also reports of at least 20 passengers without ECNR (Emigration Clearance Not Required) status boarding flights from here last month.

Another suspected case of human trafficking was reported here earlier in May when the officials detained a passenger on his arrival here from Abu Dhabi.

The passenger, Abdul Hameed of Kasaragod, was allowed to board a flight despite a ban on his entry into the UAE.

In April, three officials at the immigration wing were suspended from duty following an in-house investigation.

The matter first came to the authorities' notice in December last year when airport director A.C.K. Nair received an anonymous letter that was, in turn, forwarded to the immigration department. The letter alleged that a section of officials, in association with a couple of travel agencies, were engaged in human trafficking to West Asia.

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