43 off to Dubai grilled

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070405/asp/calcutta/story_7607557.asp#
Forty-three men bound for Dubai by Emirates airline missed their flight on Wednesday due to lengthy questioning by immigration officials.
The men, all of whom are from the districts of Bengal, were going to Dubai to work as plumbers, cooks and construction workers. They had the required work permits.
“On Tuesday, police received a tip-off that a group of men, aged between 25 and 30, had put up at a hotel near the airport. The cops suspected that a human trafficking network had organised their journey to Dubai,” disclosed an airport official.
The first group of 13 youths arrived at the airport around 7 am. They were stopped as soon as they produced their documents at the immigration counter. “We found out that they were from Ranaghat, in Nadia district,” said the official.
The second group arrived at the airport around 9 am, 45 minutes before the departure of the flight. They, too, were immediately taken aside for questioning.
The baggage of the two groups had to be offloaded from the plane, delaying it by more than two hours.
“The passports initially had ‘emigration check required status’, which was later upgraded to ECNR (emigration check not required) status. The men could not give proper replies to our queries about their plans in Dubai,” the official added.
The immigration officers checked the passports of the two groups with the regional passport office and found them to be in order. The men were later released. They will leave for Dubai on Thursday.
Copyright © 2006 The Telegraph.