NEW DELHI, Feb. 10 -- We were seated in the last but two rows on an Air India flight from Paris to Delhi in the year 2000. After almost everyone had taken their seats and stored their luggage, two French policemen brought four or five young Indians in handcuffs. One sat next to me.

After a few minutes of waiting, just before the door was closed, the policemen returned, unlocked the handcuffs of the detainees, and left the plane. Immediately afterwards, the air hostess closed the door, and the flight took off.

I asked my new neighbour what had happened. He said they were cheated by the agent who brought them to Europe. They had destroyed their passports, as advised, when the police caught them. At that point, their leader told my neighbo...