CHANDIGARH: A group of Indians, who were deported from the US to Panama, were repatriated on Sunday after a flight carrying 12 Indian nationals landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. Among them, four hailed from Punjab, and were then put on a connecting flight to Amritsar.
This is the first batch of Indians who were repatriated after being deported to Panama from the US. With this, four flights carrying illegal Indian immigrants to the US have arrived in the country.
The US had deported around 299 illegal immigrants to Panama. Sources said the deportees landed in Delhi on a Turkish Airlines flight via Istanbul.
Four of the deportees were from Punjab and were put on a connecting flight to Amritsar from Delhi and they have landed in their native state.
Among them. Jatinder Singh (34) from Patiala paid `52 lakh to go to the US. He travelled from Delhi to Guana, through Brazil, Columbia, Guatemala and Mexico, before illegally arriving in the US.
Another, Maninder Dutt (23) of Chandpur in Jalandhar, paid `42 lakh to fraudulent travel agents who took him from Delhi to Spain, then El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico.
Jugraj Singh (33) of Chaudhpur village in Gurdaspur paid up `38 lakh to travel the “donkey route” – Delhi, Mumbai, Amsterdam, Brazil, Columbia and into the US.
Meanwhile, Harpreet Singh (30) of Cheema village in Gurdaspur also dished out Rs 38 lakh to travel the same route.
Among the other deportees, three are reportedly from Haryana and another three from Uttar Pradesh.
The exact number of Indian immigrants among the 299 deportees to Panama, howevr, remains unclear.
On Friday, the Ministry of External Affairs had stated it has seen reports about deportation flights to Panama and New Delhi and is verifying the details as to whether the individuals are Indian nationals or not.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal during his weekly briefing had said, “Once the verifications are complete, arrangements will be made for return of Indian nationals.’’
The first group of Indians deported by the US earlier arrived in Panama after President Jose Raul Mulino agreed his country would become a bridge country for deportees.