Even as four more Indian pilgrims disappeared in New Zealand on their way to Sydney, bringing the number to 39, Indian High Commission sources in Wellington have denied possibility of an immigration scam. The sources told that those missing have not violated any rules so far as they have a month long visitor visas. The New Zealand Labour Department had said that most of the missing pilgrims were men, aged between 17 and 35, and that they were allegedly part of a racket to stay in the country. However, Indian High Commission sources denied the possibility and said they are assisting New Zealand authorities in their search for the missing pilgrims.
A total of 220 Indian Catholic pilgrims had a stopover in Auckland on their way to Sydney, where Pope Benedict XVI will lead World Youth Day celebrations later this week. An Indian taxi driver, while taking three of the men from Auckland to Tauranga, had spoken with them about their plans and informed the New Zealand Sikh Society, media reports said. Society spokesman Daljit Singh had reportedly made contact with two of the pilgrims and they had told him that an "agent" in India had organized all of their travel plans and visas. The initial plan was for them to pay a deposit of 17,000 dollars (USD 12,900), which would get them multiple visas for a month.
Reports say they were to travel to Auckland then on their way to Sydney before heading back to India with 15 days left on their visas. The agent would then require another 17,000 dollars before they traveled back to New Zealand - this time to stay as long as they wanted. However, the pilgrims reportedly discussed the plan on the plane while flying to Auckland and decided to make a change. "They thought 'why can't we stay the first time rather than coming back and paying another fare?'," Singh was quoted as saying, adding, "I tried to convince them that they need to leave today to Sydney but they are telling us they came to stay here and the guy organizing from India took their money and said 'you can stay (in New Zealand) forever'." All the missing pilgrims were booked on flights to Sydney on Tuesday (July 15), the last leaving at 5.30 pm local time. The New Zealand Labour Department said once that plane had left the ground they would know how many, if any, had to be rounded up.
However, it may not be possible to take immediate action as all were issued visitor permits which allow them to remain in the country, legally, until August 5 or 6. "Their permits can only be revoked if they are found to be in breach of the conditions pertaining to those permits," the Department had said. Catholic Church spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer had said the church was working closely with the department. "As far as I know, nobody in the church would have any inkling that anything like this was happening. It appears World Youth Day has been used as an excuse and that is really quite alarming. One hopes it doesn't reach a greater scale in Australia for example," Freer was quoted as saying.
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