The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has initiated an investigation taking cognizance of an FIR lodged by the Ahmedabad Police. In this FIR, Bhavesh Ashok Bhai Patel and others are accused of conspiring to send Indian citizens to the US illegally via Canada. The case has been registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Under this, at least 260 Canadian colleges also under scrutiny.
Canadian colleges and human trafficking network
The ED has revealed that the accused were doing this smuggling through fake admissions in Canadian colleges and universities. These citizens applied for student visas for Canada but did not join the colleges after reaching there. Instead, they crossed the border illegally into the US. According to the investigating agency, the fees paid to the Canadian colleges were later sent back to the students' accounts, raising questions about the involvement of these institutions. Through this racket, Indian citizens were charged Rs 55 lakh to Rs 60 lakh per person.
What is Punjab's connection?
As per sources in the known development, ED's investigation into the case can reach Punjab. It has been revealed that two to three big immigration and travel agents are on the radar of ED. While no names have been mentioned, it is said that the travel agents are famous in Jalandhar and other parts of Punjab. They send Indians to Canada, Australia, the US, and Arab countries. Local administration also took action against them but no major arrests were made as they were not linked.
The agents are said to be quite influential as well, therefore they successfully dodged the investigations. Now, ED is probing deeply into the case and trying to find out the nexus between travel agents and Canadian colleges in the human trafficking cases.
To be precise, ED is probing a case linked to the Gujarati family that froze to death attempting to cross over to the US from Canada. ED has found a connection between an international syndicate of human traffickers and Canadian colleges. It has been said that at least 260 colleges in Canada have been issuing student visas to “illegal migrants” to take the Canadian route to enter into the US.
During the recent searches across Mumbai, Nagpur, Gandhinagar, and Vadodara at the premises of several agents involved in sending illegal migrants through these Canadian colleges on December 10 and 19, the ED found that around 35,000 illegal migrants are sent abroad every year by just two agents, based in Mumbai and Nagpur. "The probe also found that around 1,700 agents/partners in Gujarat and around 3,500 across India were involved in this racket. ED estimates that more than 800 agents are still active despite a multi-agency crackdown on them,” the ED said on Wednesday as per First Post.