The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at 29 places in Gujarat, Delhi and Maharashtra this week. The raids were in connection with the ‘human smuggling’ that is going on in the US-Canada border areas.
So far, illegal ‘entries’ worth more than Rs. 1,000 crores have been discovered in connection with the human smuggling racket. Bharat alias Bobby Patel, Raju Prajapati and other agents are involved in the racket.
Bobby Patel is allegedly the key figure involved in the migrant smuggling racket in the US. While granting him bail, a sessions court observed that Bobby was accused of ‘kabootarbazi’ (human smuggling).
The ED searched places belonging to the accused on March 1 under the provision of the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002). The accused reportedly belong to India, the US and Canada.
The probe was initiated by ED based on three FIRs registered by Gujarat Police under various sections of the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act. Chargesheets have been filed in all the FIRs.
The accused have allegedly been sending Indians abroad illegally since 2015 using fake documents to get visas. Duplicate or bogus passports have also been used in the operation. The charge per potential immigrant is around Rs 60-75 lakh and it is Rs 1-1.25 crore for a couple.
Bobby was arrested on December 12, almost 10 months after an FIR was registered by the crime branch for alleged human smuggling to the US via Mexico.
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