Trafficking agent held for sending Punjab man to US via donkey route
A 29-year-old agent from Punjab was arrested by the Delhi Police's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) unit for allegedly orchestrating the illegal travel of a 21-year-old man to the United States through a labyrinthine 'donkey route' spanning Kenya, Turkey, Spain, and Mexico.
The passenger, Navjot Singh from Mansa, who had paid ₹41 lakh to the accused agent Jagjeet Singh alias Jassa, was recently deported from the US after spending five months at a detention centre there. He was arrested in Delhi last week for allegedly cheating Indian immigration by using a tampered passport.
Additional commissioner of police (IGI Airport) Usha Rangnani said Singh was deported in the early hours of June 4. During immigration checks, officials found discrepancies in the stamps on his passport, including unverifiable entries from Kenya and Europe. The passport, they concluded, had been doctored with forged immigration stamps to fake a travel history.
'Navjot has disclosed to us that he planned to go to the US for better employment prospects. Last year, Navjot came in contact with an agent, Jagjeet Singh, who promised to facilitate his illegal entry into the US with the assistance of his associates, in exchange for a payment of ₹41 lakh. Navjot claimed that he paid the amount in cash and bank transfers,' said Rangnani.
He was first flown to Kenya from Mumbai on a tourist visa, where he met an associate of the agent. There, officials said, forged Schengen visas and stamps were pasted onto his passport. Singh then flew to Mexico via Istanbul and Madrid and finally crossed into the US through the Tijuana border, allegedly assisted by the same network of traffickers.
Police have booked both Singh and Jassa and are probing further links in the trafficking ring.
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