ED probe finds 'Gujarat breeding ground for human trafficking agents'

New Delhi: An investigation by Enforcement Directorate (ED) found Gujarat as the breeding ground for human trafficking agents, nearly a month after the Trump administration deported undocumented migrants from India, The Wire reported.

The Central agency in its investigation discovered a network of 4,000-4,500 trafficking agents with 2,000 from Gujarat alone, The Telegraph reported.

The agents have links to 150 Canadian colleges thus helping Indians illegally enter the US via Canada.

Students, who are helped by agents to get admitted to a Canadian college on student visa, cross the Canadian border and enter the US illegally.

An ED official told the paper that investigation led to discovering nearly 2,000 agents or ‘partners’ in Gujarat ‘involved in smuggling Indians into the US via Canada, are still active and in touch with syndicate members in Canada’.

The investigation revealed that more than 12,000 financial transactions took place between the agents and Canadian colleges between November 2021 and July 2024.

The official also said: ‘These payments to the Canadian colleges were made through three or four (Indian) financial service companies, which too are under our scanner’.

It is reported citing the official that the fee sent to the Canadian colleges returned to the individual’s account after deducting commission raging between Rs 55-60 lakh per person.

The ED reportedly filed a money-laundering case connecting with the trafficking.

The revelation came after probe into the deaths of a family of four from Gujarat including two children aged 11 and 3 years in January 2022 while trying to cross the US-Canada border.

It is reported that of the 67,391 Indian illegal migrants in the US, as many as 41,330 are from Gujarat.