The role of various travel agents is under the scanner of authorities as illegal entry of Indians into the United States is being led by a big nexus, sources have told CNN-News18.
Gujarat’s CID has written to the CBI, urging the central agency to identify the travel agents in this nexus, they said.
Rs 60-80 lakh is paid to these agents by the illegal migrants at the time of entry into the US through Nicaragua, added the sources in Gujarat CID.
According to them, these are youths with basic education youth who want entry into the United States by any means possible.
They are told that they can recover the money in a few years if they work hard.
France last month grounded a charter flight headed to Nicaragua carrying around 300 Indian passengers. Intelligence sources told CNN-News18 that the flight, which later reached Mumbai after being freed by French authorities, was part of a conspiracy where tourists leave India and never return and seek asylum in a foreign country based on religious persecution. Of the 303 passengers, mostly from Punjab and Gujarat, 276 were sent to India, and 25 have sought asylum in France based on alleged religious persecution.
66 passengers who were from Gujarat were questioned by the state CID and they revealed that they had arranged money by selling their ancestral properties or gold, said sources.
They were asked to reach Dubai in mid-December from various parts of Delhi, Mumbai, and Ahmedabad to avoid getting noticed, the CID sources added.
According to the department’s officials, so far they have not been able to identify the mastermind but expect to catch him soon. They added that this is not the first such flight as others have gone in the past with migrants who never came back.
Detailed investigations have been launched to understand who paid for the bulk visa fees and who was the sponsor.
They also want to know the person behind the charter flight and for how many years this is going on, said the sources.
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