NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has conducted searches at a location each in Delhi and Himachal Pradesh and arrested two accused for their key roles in human trafficking to the US via the infamous 'dunki' route, officials said on Saturday.
According to officials, the arrested accused Sunny alias Sunny Donker of Dharamshala of Kangra district in HP, and Shubham Sandhal alias Deep Hundi of Ropar, Punjab, who was living in Outer Delhi’s Peeragarhi, were arrested on Friday.
The officials alleged that both the arrested accused were associates of Gagandeep Singh alias Goldy, who was arrested in March on the complaint of a victim, who was trafficked to the US using ‘the dunki route’ and was deported to India in February this year.
The term dunki, believed to have originated from the word donkey, refers to an illegal pathway that immigrants take to enter countries like the United States without proper documentation and the risky and difficult travel is generally facilitated by one of the human-trafficking syndicates.
The officials said that the NIA had filed a charge sheet in the case naming Gagandeep Singh, a resident of Tilak Nagar in New Delhi, in the case on June 27, as prime accused.
According to the NIA investigation, Gagandeep used to take around Rs 45 lakh from each traveller and would promise to send them to the US on a valid legal visa, the officials said, adding that he used to send these people on a difficult journey via multiple countries, including Spain, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico, the officials said. Before his arrest Gagandeep had illegally sent more than 100 people to the US.
Arrested accused Sunny, the main associate/donker of Gagandeep’s gang, played a key role in facilitating the illegal travel, they alleged, adding that other arrested accused Shubham Sandhal was an important hawala courier operator, involved in transferring funds to donkers in Latin America.
The NIA, which took over the case from Punjab Police on March 13, 2025, continues its investigation, the agency officials said.