CHANDIGARH: As many as 156 people, who were part of the 276 passengers on the Nicaragua-bound flight sent back from France to India, hailed from Punjab and wanted to improve the travel history on their passports for an easy entry to the US, Canada and European countries.
They were advised by their travel agents to travel to this central American country as many of them had been earlier been rejected by the Canadian authorities, while some had dreams of settling in Australian which were unfulfilled.
This was revealed by a four-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Punjab Police probing the human trafficking of Indians mostly from Punjab and Gujarat via the ‘Donkey’ route on the Nicaragua-bound flight. According to sources, of the 156 passengers, 57 were from Malwa region, 37 from Doaba, 64 from Majha region, and one from union territory of Chandigarh. Meanwhile around 20 people each from Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran districts of the state as these three districts top the list.
“Details of these 156 passengers have been obtained through FRRO. On analysis it has been found that these are spread over 22 police districts of Punjab. The data has been sent to respective districts to verify the victims and role of travel agents,” said Randhir Kumar, SP (Investigations), Ferozepur who heads the SIT team. “As now one person seems to be interested in registration of FIR against the travel agents and has shared the details with the SIT. Soon a case would be registered against the accused,” said a senior cop.
They said that the youth in the age group of 25-40 years are advised to go on foreign trips to offbeat, visa-free European countries before embarking on a ‘donkey’ route. This helps them enter transit countries posing as tourists before undertaking the perilous last stretch on donkey route.
“A majority of people sent back from France who were on that Nicaragua flight had their passport full of tourist visa stamps, especially from European countries,’’ the police official said. Sources said that the passengers of the Nicaragua flight were suspected to be following the ‘donkey’ route to illegally enter Mexico and from there to the US. Nicaragua has been used as a migratory springboard because of relaxed or visa free entry requirements. The preferred transit countries for illegal entry to USA are Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Spain, Brazil and Venezuela.
Posing as tourists
Cops said that the youth in the age group of 25-40 years are advised to go on foreign trips to offbeat, visa-free European countries before embarking on a ‘donkey’ route. This helps them enter transit countries posing as tourists before undertaking the perilous last stretch on donkey route. A majority of people sent back from France had their tourist visa stamps on their passports