BATHINDA/NEW DELHI: In a massive crackdown on illegal immigration rackets operating from several cities in Punjab and Haryana, the Enforcement Director on Wednesday conducted searches at 11 locations in seven cities on some of these agents, including on the premises of farmers' union leader Sukhwinder Singh , also known as Sukh Gill, the president of BKU (Totewal) faction, for their involvement in sending unsuspecting people through the ' donkey route ' to the US.
ED officials spent several hours inside Gill's house at Tota Singh Wala village in Moga district, around 80 km from Ludhiana, and went through various documents, sources said.
Gill, who was not at home when the ED team arrived, said he had nothing to hide and that some people were conspiring against him. He said the human trafficking complaint against him was false and he was open to being investigated by any agency.
ED searches were carried out in Amritsar, Sangrur, Patiala, Moga, Ambala, Kurukshetra and Karnal on agents who were found charging Rs 40-50 lakh each from victims, promising to send them to the US through legal channels. At least 400 such people were deported, handcuffed and chained, by the US in military aircraft since Feb.
Soon after their arrival in India, the ED began its probe and recorded statements of the victims of ' immigration fraud '. Questioning revealed the names of agents who were behind this racket, a senior official said. The ED's money laundering investigation is based on 17 FIRs registered by police in Punjab and Haryana against some of these travel agents and middlemen offering to arrange 'visas' by the American embassy.
"During investigation, it was gathered that the agents used to target people who wanted to immigrate to the US. Promising them migration through legal channels and through flights, the agents charged them huge amounts (around Rs 45-50 lakh per candidate)," a source said.
However, the agents later forced them to take the donkey route (illegal channel) by crossing the land borders of many countries, sometimes illegally through dangerous forests "under the influence of mafias".
These agents, in collusion with mafias at border crossings, created threatening situations for illegal migrants and their families during their journey, and were forced to pay more money, besides the Rs 40-50 lakh charged at the beginning. The revelations were made by some of the deportees when they were interrogated by the ED.
ED officials spent several hours inside Gill's house at Tota Singh Wala village in Moga district, around 80 km from Ludhiana, and went through various documents, sources said.
Gill, who was not at home when the ED team arrived, said he had nothing to hide and that some people were conspiring against him. He said the human trafficking complaint against him was false and he was open to being investigated by any agency.
ED searches were carried out in Amritsar, Sangrur, Patiala, Moga, Ambala, Kurukshetra and Karnal on agents who were found charging Rs 40-50 lakh each from victims, promising to send them to the US through legal channels. At least 400 such people were deported, handcuffed and chained, by the US in military aircraft since Feb.
Soon after their arrival in India, the ED began its probe and recorded statements of the victims of ' immigration fraud '. Questioning revealed the names of agents who were behind this racket, a senior official said. The ED's money laundering investigation is based on 17 FIRs registered by police in Punjab and Haryana against some of these travel agents and middlemen offering to arrange 'visas' by the American embassy.
"During investigation, it was gathered that the agents used to target people who wanted to immigrate to the US. Promising them migration through legal channels and through flights, the agents charged them huge amounts (around Rs 45-50 lakh per candidate)," a source said.
However, the agents later forced them to take the donkey route (illegal channel) by crossing the land borders of many countries, sometimes illegally through dangerous forests "under the influence of mafias".
These agents, in collusion with mafias at border crossings, created threatening situations for illegal migrants and their families during their journey, and were forced to pay more money, besides the Rs 40-50 lakh charged at the beginning. The revelations were made by some of the deportees when they were interrogated by the ED.
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