India Today impact: Punjab government cracks down on illegal immigration agents

India Today

Days after India Today's Operation Dunki exposed how Punjab's human smuggling rackets fuel illegal immigration, the Punjab government has revoked the licences of over 40 travel agents and 271 agents have been issued notices in Amritsar.

Transcript

00:00India Today, remember, has been consistently tracking and following about these illegal

00:09immigration routes, Operation Junkie, as it is called.

00:12There's been an impact of that.

00:14Action will be taken against travel agents.

00:16Remember, India Today's Special Investigation Team exposed how these travel agents reach

00:22out to the vulnerable, to those they realize are desperate to move abroad.

00:27Cases of over 40 travel agents have been revoked in Amritsar.

00:32Cops have issued notice to 271 travel agents in Punjab.

00:36The cops have also said strict action will be taken against unauthorized travel agents.

00:41Remember, it's not the job of the travel agents to be organizing this sort of immigration

00:46route or junkie route, as it is called, which can be extremely dangerous.

00:49It can involve a mafia nexus as well.

00:52And now in the backdrop of the deportation that's happening, it's this investigation

00:57report that's been taken cognizance of by the Punjab authorities especially, and therefore

01:04now take a look of why this is so significant.

01:07Four aircrafts arrived from the United States of America in the past few weeks, and hundreds

01:13of illegal Indian immigrants have been deported back.

01:17It literally looks like a multi-million dollar business, a nexus.

01:22Many hubs, for example, are in Punjab, especially in hubs like Jalandhar and other areas.

01:27Here's a special report.

01:30The one that has now been taken cognizance of by the authorities, the special investigation

01:34report by India Today's Nitin Jain.

01:44Chasing their dreams for a better, brighter future in a foreign land, thousands of desperate

01:52Indian citizens risk dangerous, treacherous journeys.

02:00The aim is to settle down in the US, Canada, Australia, or the UK.

02:09These illegal immigration routes entail physical risks and financial loss.

02:20In real life too, illegal immigration rackets are selling the same dream.

02:27At Krishna Enterprises in Jalandhar city, we met Sahil Verma and his business partner.

02:35We introduced ourselves as visitors from Gujarat, seeking assistance in sending our

02:44grown-up children abroad.

02:47After our interaction with Sahil, we later found that Krishna Enterprises is not even

02:53registered with the government to deal with visa and immigration matters.

03:00Sahil explained the different options available to us.

03:25He clarified that he could arrange for them to enter Europe, but not on a Schengen visa.

03:35Instead he proposed the Serbia to Italy route, using the donkey method via a taxi.

03:42We were worried about safety, but Sahil clarified that there were different types of donkey

03:49routes, and the cost depends on the mode of journey one chooses.

04:08Sahil even mentioned that though America was deporting illegal immigrants, he could still

04:14send people into the US through the donkey routes.

04:44To prove his credibility, Sahil showed us a recent video of people being smuggled using

04:56the donkey route.

04:59He claimed that two of his clients had successfully crossed over using this method.

05:14Sahil even admitted that his business partner had sent his own child via the donkey route

05:21to the US.

05:34Immigration consultants in Jalandhar also openly offer political asylum to those willing

05:41to pay.

05:45Our investigation led us to one such consultancy.

05:51We met consultant Raman at the visa engineer's office in Jalandhar.

06:21Raman further advised that we would need to participate in political rallies and get

06:36photographs clicked as proof, which would help strengthen our case for asylum.

07:06Raman assured us that the lawyer would apply for political asylum based on the documents

07:15provided.

07:19The initial embassy fee would be 1.85 lakhs, and the full payment would be taken only after

07:26the visa was granted.

07:29If any document is missing, they would arrange it for an additional fee.

07:58This investigation exposes the lucrative business of fake political asylum applications,

08:06revealing how agents and legal intermediaries are manipulating the system to facilitate

08:14immigration to Canada under false pretexts.

08:19A report by Special Investigation Team's Nitin Jain in Jalandhar for India Today.

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