New Delhi: A Delhi-based agent arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Sunday allegedly sent 45 people overseas illegally through ‘donkey’ routes, ThePrint has learnt. He was the first arrest by the NIA as part of its probe into agents who facilitated the illegal migration of Indian nationals deported by the United States last month.
The agent, identified as Gagandeep Singh alias Goldy from West Delhi’s Tilak Nagar, was in the business of facilitating the illegal migration of Indian nationals since 2022 and was charging Rs 40 to Rs 45 lakh for each person, sources aware of the matter told ThePrint.
Of the 45 people, Goldy allegedly sent 20 illegally to the United Kingdom and 25 to the US.
The NIA made the arrest in a case it took over from the Punjab Police. The case was registered on a complaint filed by Gursevak Singh from Tarn Taran, who alleged that Goldy had charged him Rs 45 lakh to send him to the US through legal channels. Instead, he sent Singh through illegal routes. Singh was part of the second batch of Indians sent back by the US in February.
“NIA investigations revealed that Goldy, who did not possess any license/legal permit/registration for sending persons abroad, had used the donkey route and sent the victim to US via Spain, Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement Sunday.
Adding, “Donkers/associates of Goldy had even beaten up and exploited the victim, besides snatching the dollars he was carrying, during the arduous journey, NIA investigations further revealed.”
In the complaint, seen by ThePrint, Singh alleged that he was referred to Goldy by a group of men on his tour of Thailand and Vietnam in 2023. After meeting him in Delhi, Singh allegedly handed over his passport to Goldy to get a US visa printed on it.
However, around three months later, Goldy allegedly told him that his Schengen visa, for which he took Rs 15 lakh, was ready. When Singh asked about the change of plans, seeing as he wanted to got the US legally, Goldy allegedly told him that the routes that he had suggested were the only way for him to get to the US.
He further alleged that Goldy and his syndicate made him fly to Spain on 21 December 2024 from where he was taken to El Salvador. Then, he travelled to Guatemala in a taxi. After reaching Mexico, Singh allegedly paid Goldy Rs 27.50 lakh.
Singh crossed the border into the US through Tijuana and was immediately taken into custody by the US Border Patrol. He was kept in custody for 19 days before being handcuffed and deported to Amritsar on 15 February.
Since Donald Trump assumed office in January, so far, at least 388 Indian nationals who entered the US illegally have been deported to India. Punjab Police has arrested at least 8 agents linked to these deportations.
Goldy’s arrest by the NIA came a little over a week after the Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai informed Parliament that the agency had questioned several Indian nationals deported from the US and registered cases of human trafficking against their agents.
Initially constituted to probe cases of terrorism in 2008, the mandate of the NIA was broadened in 2019 to investigate cases of human trafficking, manufacture and sale of prohibited arms, cyber-terrorism and offences under the Explosive Substances Act, 1908.
The agency had also taken over cases filed by state police pertaining to the trafficking of Indian youth to foreign countries on the pretext of employment. In Laos and Cambodia, for example, these people were then forced to work at scam call centres to defraud people across the world in the name of investment and crypto platforms, among others.
Besides the NIA, the Enforcement Directorate has also summoned deportees from the US, and officials said that they are in the process of identifying payment channels to establish if there was any money laundering involved.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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