Kapurthala: 2 travel agents booked on US deportee’s complaint

Kapurthala

The Kapurthala police have registered a case against two travel agents following a complaint filed by one of the deportees from the United States, officials said.

The accused have been identified as Sukhwinder Singh of Lakhan Ke Padde village and Lakhi Singh of Kishan Singhwala in Kapurthala district.

A case has been registered against both under Sections 143 (human trafficking), 318(4) (cheating), 62(2) (attempting to commit an offence) of the BNS, and Section 24 of the Emigration Act at the Dhilwan police station, officials familiar with the matter said.

With this, a total of 16 cases have been registered against travel agents in Punjab, and three arrests have been made, according to officials familiar with the matter.

The complaint was lodged by Nishan Singh (20) of Chakoki village, who was deported from the US on a flight that landed at Amritsar airport on February 15. He alleged that the accused duped him and his family of ₹35 lakh, promising to send him to the US through a direct route.

“I was first sent to France, then to Suriname and later to the Mexico border via Panama. The accused blackmailed my family and extorted more money from them,” Singh stated in his complaint.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Gaurav Toora confirmed that an investigation has been initiated and the police are coordinating with the special investigation team (SIT) conducting a detailed probe into the matter.

“The accused will be arrested soon. We urge other deportees from the district to come forward and register complaints against such travel agents,” Toora added.

On February 17 and 18, the SIT, investigating illegal human trafficking of Punjab natives deported from the US, registered five fresh FIRs against travel agents in Tarn Taran, SAS Nagar, Moga and Sangrur. It was revealed that these agents, operating through unauthorised networks, charged victims hefty amounts by promising safe and legal immigration routes, but ultimately exposed them to inhumane conditions, detention and deportation.

The crackdown gained momentum earlier this month when on February 5, the first batch of 104 Indian immigrants was deported from the US and brought to Amritsar in a US military aircraft. Among these deportees, 33 each were from Haryana and Gujarat, and 30 from Punjab.

On February 15, a second batch of 117 illegal immigrants landed at Amritsar on another US military aircraft. This batch included 65 from Punjab, 33 from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh and two each from Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir.

The following day, a third US military aircraft carrying 112 Indian immigrants landed at Amritsar airport, bringing the total number of deportees sent back from the US amid the Donald Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration to 333.