MELBOURNE: New Zealand authorities have lost track of 33 Indians, who claimed they were victims of an immigration scam after arriving here in July as pilgrims to attend the Pope's Youth Day rally in Sydney.
Seven immigrants from the group of 40 have been deported, a New Zealand Labor Department spokesperson said.
Forty pilgrims, part of a wider group of over 200 people, disappeared last month while on stopovers in New Zealand before flying to Sydney to take part in the Pope's World Youth Day rally.
They had, earlier, claimed that they paid upto $13,000 to an agent in India who organized their travel visas and told them they could stay in New Zealand "forever".
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