KEY POINTS:
The number of Indian men and youths who have abandoned their pilgrimage to the Pope's World Youth Day and disappeared in Auckland today climbed to 39.
When the last plane carrying the pilgrims to Sydney departed Auckland International Airport tonight, their numbers had dwindled from 220 to 181.
The missing pilgrims appear to have been involved in an immigration scam.
Auckland Justice of the Peace and New Zealand Sikh Society spokesman Daljit Singh said some claimed they had paid "agents" in India who told them they could stay in New Zealand.
They told him an agent in India had organised all of their travel plans and visas.
The initial plan was for them to pay a deposit of $17,000 which would get them multiple visas for a month.
They were to travel to Auckland then on to Sydney before heading back to India with 15 days left on their visas.
The agent would then require another $17,000 before they travelled back to New Zealand - this time to stay as long as they wanted.
However, they discussed the plan on the plane while flying into 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?'," Mr Singh said.
The Labour Department's Immigration Service is investigating the scam allegations but a spokesman could not comment further.
Catholic Church spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer said the news was "shocking".
"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," she said.
An Auckland woman, who hosted two of the missing men, feels she was duped.
Kim Wannenburg hosted two Indian nationals for four days, before they disappeared.
She told Newstalk ZB the men pretended to go to the local shop to buy her daughter a gift, but never returned.
Ms Wannenburg said she has received three phone calls from one of the men, apologising for leaving without saying goodbye.
She said she had been in contact with police and immigration officers.
Mr Singh said he was in contact with some of the missing pilgrims, who had told him they intended to hide from authorities.
He said they claimed they were promised residency in New Zealand but were shocked when they were handed short-term visas on arrival.
The Labour Department yesterday said it was searching for 32 pilgrims who had disappeared from their New Zealand billets.
Earlier today the number climbed to 35, and tonight an Immigration Service spokesman said that four more of the pilgrims had failed to turn up to the airport.
All of those missing are males, aged between 17 and 35.
The spokesman said all 220 Indian pilgrims in New Zealand en route to Australia for World Youth Day were due to leave New Zealand on various flights today, the last at 5.30pm.
"Some of those who are missing absconded from Auckland International Airport on arrival in New Zealand in early July, while others absconded from their billets, all but one leaving their luggage there," he said.
"All the pilgrims had been billeted with members of the Auckland Catholic community, not specifically with Indian Catholics."
He said Immigration New Zealand was maintaining close contact with the Catholic Church in Auckland in an effort to locate the missing men.
The spokesman said the missing men had not yet broken the law.
Their visitor permits allowed them to remain in New Zealand legally for a month.
"Their permits can only be revoked if they are found to be in breach of the conditions pertaining to those permits - in this case, for example, working would be illegal because they are here on visitor permits."
Immigration New Zealand was working closely with its counterparts in Australia on the matter.
The Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship told NZPA everyone wishing to travel to and enter Australia must satisfy Australia's entry requirements.
All pilgrims who had arrived in Australia had been cleared by immigration - "they are lawfully in Australia on three-month visas, and if a missing person report is filed this would be a matter for state police".
- NZPA
