ED conducts fresh searches in Punjab, Haryana in 'donkey route' case

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday conducted fresh searches in Punjab and Haryana as part of a money-laundering investigation into a 'donkey route' case related to illegal Indian immigrants who were deported by the US this year, official sources said.

Raids are being undertaken at seven locations at Mansa in Punjab, and Kurukshetra and Karnal in Haryana, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

The latest raids are based on 'credible' inputs gathered during the first round of searches conducted on 9 July at 11 locations in these two states, the sources said.

Post the 9 July searches, the federal probe agency on Thursday said in a statement that it had recovered 30 original passports and obtained the names of various agents and immigration agencies running the "donkey route" business of sending Indians abroad illegally on a "large scale".

Inputs gathered shows that human traffickers were used to arrange illegal route resources outside India in connivance with 'donkers' (human trafficking conduits), the sources said.

The ED had said it was found that those willing to go to the US were "duped" by travel agents and middlemen with false promises to send them through legal channels. However, they were sent to the US through the "donkey route", crossing the borders of various countries and illegally negotiating dangerous routes, with the help of donkers and the mafia, it had said.

The word 'donkey', 'dunkey' or 'dunki' refers to the donkey-like long and hard journey undertaken by immigrants to enter countries illegally.