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Punjab: ED seizes 30 passports, finds hawala trail in ‘donkey route’ probe
Enforcement Directorate teams had recently raided dubious travel agents in Amritsar, Sangrur, Patiala and Moga cities of Punjab besides Ambala, Kurukshetra and Karnal in Haryana as part of the investigation into money laundering linked to illegal immigration to the US.
Two days after raiding 11 locations in Punjab and Haryana in connection with illegal human trafficking to the United States, the Enforcement Directorate on Friday said that it had seized 30 original passports and collected evidence of hawala (illegal) money transactions.
The raids were conducted in Amritsar, Sangrur, Patiala and Moga cities of Punjab besides Ambala, Kurukshetra and Karnal in Haryana as part of the investigation into money laundering linked to the ‘donkey route’ — a network facilitating illegal immigration to the US.
ED raids are underway at seven locations in Punjab’s Mansa districts besides Kurukshetra and Karnal on Friday. An official said the searches were based on inputs gathered during the search operation on July 9 at 11.
In an official statement, the ED said 30 original passports were found in the house of a travel agent involved in sending people abroad illegally. “Credible evidence has been recovered which indicates that agents have done cash/hawala transactions running into crores of rupees by duping prospective clients. During the operation, the names of agents and immigration agencies that carried out illegal donkey route business on a large scale have surfaced,” an ED spokesperson said.
The ED initiated the action under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on the basis of 19 FIRs against travel agents and middlemen who exploited Indian citizens seeking to enter the US illegally.
“Incriminating documents, records and digital devices have been recovered and seized. Investigation showed people wanting to go to the US were duped by travel agents and middlemen on the false promise of sending them through legal channels. They were sent through the ‘donkey route’ and made to cross borders of various countries illegally through dangerous routes with the help of donkers (human trafficking conduits) and the mafia,” the ED said.
The agents in collusion with donkers and the mafia used to create threatening situations for the persons to extort more money from their families, the federal agency said.
As many as 131 youngsters from Punjab were deported on board US military planes in February by the Donald Trump administration. These deportees had attempted to cross the US-Mexico border illegally between January 23 and 28, only to be apprehended by US border security patrols and sent to detention centres.
The ED has recorded the statements of victims deported from the US. Each deportee had paid between ₹45 lakh- ₹55 lakh to travel agents they had never met in person but were connected to through local contacts. The ED asked the deportees to furnish all documents, including bank account details of the travel agents to whom payments were made.
Earlier this month, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested two alleged “US donkey route” human traffickers after searches at two locations in Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. The accused were identified as Sunny of Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh and Shubham Sandhal of Rupnagar, who was residing in Peeragarhi in the national capital. Their names surfaced during interrogation of Gagandeep Singh, who was arrested by the NIA from New Delhi.
