(ANI)
NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in its probe into the ‘donkey’ or ‘dunki’ route found Thursday that a key operator based in Haryana allegedly collected property papers from aspirants as security to guarantee payments for arranging illegal travel to the US through Mexico.‘Dunki’ route is a network used to send Indians illegally to the United States. The searches spread across Punjab, Haryana and Delhi were focused on what officials described as “second and third layer persons involved in the chain” of the donkey route syndicate.“Chat with other involved persons and other incriminating evidence regarding dunkey business has been found,” officials associated with the probe told news agency ANI.”From premises of a key donkey player in Haryana, records and documents related to donkey business has been found. It has been revealed that he used to keep property documents of candidates as surety for payment of amount for sending USA through Mexico donkey route,” said the officials, adding “some incriminating documents and mobile have also been recovered from the premises of other persons covered under search operations. “During the operation, the agency seized assets worth Rs 19.13 crore from the premises of a travel agent based in Delhi. Cash amounting to Rs 4.62 crore, along with 313 kg of silver and 6 kg of gold bullion was seized. The latest search operations covered premises linked to Richi Travels in Jalandhar, Tarun Khosla in Delhi and Balwan Sharma in Panipat.In a related development, the ED recently attached assets worth Rs 5.41 crore belonging to agents Shubham Sharma, Jagjit Singh and Surmukh Singh- individuals accused of generating illegal proceeds by facilitating unlawful migration through the donkey route. The properties include agricultural land, residential and commercial properties, as well as bank accounts held in their names and those of their family members.The searches were initiated based on specific intelligence inputs in a case that took shape after multiple FIRs were registered in connection with the deportation of 330 Indian nationals by US authorities in February 2025. The individuals were flown back to India on military cargo planes after it was found that they had entered the US illegally.The ED said that “these agents and their associates used to cheat gullible people by luring them under the pretext of sending them to the USA legally and charged hefty amounts for this.” The agency added that the victims were instead taken through risky routes via several South American countries before being pushed across the US-Mexico border illegally. “Throughout the way, people were tortured, extorted for even more money and made to commit illegal acts. These ‘agents’ and their associates generated proceeds of crime by cheating various persons on false pretexts and obtaining large sums from them.”
