Gujarat’s Gandhinagar is a host to agents who provide easy immigration services to UK, US, and Canada at a price. The villages which have now become a focal point of travel agents are Dingucha, Nardipur, Manasa, Mokhasan, Isand, and Nandri.
The requirements for making one applicable to immigrate to the UK, US, or Canada are minimal: basic paperwork and a hefty amount of Rs 60 lakh, which is just the starting price.
The demography of people who wish to settle abroad from the above-mentioned regions are mainly young men fresh out of their undergraduate colleges. Their main focus is to get into any two-year courses that they can get into and then find work and eventually settle in their land of choice.
How Does The System Work?
Agents proudly advertise their services on billboards and posters in the marketplace.
The Gujarat police says that there are four tiers of agents, each tier specialising in distinct skill sets. The agents who are the first point of contact are called “kabootarbaaz.” The second tier of agents are responsible for ascertaining the additional documents and the kind of visa required for each case. Documents are often forged to qualify eligibility.
Most of the immigration happens via Turkey, from where another visa to Canada is obtained, and then the immigrants cross the border illegally via sea or land.
The agents further claim that finding a job won’t prove to be an ordeal as there are Indian-owned companies who are willing to employ immigrants.
Read More: What Kind Of Human Trafficking Lead To Daler Mehndi’s Arrest?
How Did The Police Find Out?
The police only caught on to the system when people lost their lives in the process of moving to other countries, or were detained at the border. They first found out when the Patel family from Dingucha village was found frozen to death at the US-Canada border. Another man from Kalol died in an unsuccessful attempt to scale the Trump wall.
The Royal Canadian Mountain Police too arrived in March to investigate the network of illegal human smuggling.
An officer of the crime branch said to ThePrint that such cases were beyond their jurisdiction and the laws applicable in such cases were previously unclear.
One such local agent, Bharat alias Bobby Patel, was finally arrested after almost 10 months of the police chasing his tracks. He had been running his agency for almost a decade. Two different reports claim that he had 25 personal passports and that he was caught with 98 other passports as well, respectively. He is also said to have run a gambling den in Ahmedabad.
He was booked under attempt to murder, punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, attempt to culpable homicide, and criminal conspiracy. He was released on bail in January 2023, after almost three weeks of his arrest.
What do you think of the situation? Let us know in the comments.
Disclaimer: This article is fact-checked.
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: The Print, Hindustan Times, The Indian Express
Find the blogger: Pragya Damani
This post is tagged under: human smuggling, human smuggling racket, Gujarat police, Canadian police, illegal immigration, dead immigrants
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