260 Canadian Colleges, Universities Involved In Human Trafficking, Says ED Probe
Ottawa, Canada: A Gujarati family of four, including Jagdish Patel (39), wife Vaishali (35), daughter (11), and son (3), froze to death on the US-Canada border in Manitoba while trying to illegally cross over to the US. They were left behind by the traffickers to die in the middle of a snowstorm at -37 degrees Celsius. The incident happened three years ago.
Three years later, a money laundering probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against the agents involved in the Patel family case found out about an international syndicate of human traffickers. The human traffickers also include at least 260 colleges in Canada that issued student visas to “illegal migrants” for taking the Canadian route to the US.
ED opened a money laundering investigation based on an FIR registered by Ahmedabad police against accused Bhavesh Patel, an agent involved in arranging the travel of Jagdish Patel (of Dingucha village) and his family in 2022.
An investigation into the transactions of Canadian colleges revealed that the colleges had raked in large sums of money. People who chose the student visa route, which appeared to be more convenient than the ‘donkey route,’ paid around Rs 60 lakh each to agents for arranging their student visa. The probe on the transactions of the Canadian colleges and how much money they made from such “illegal migrants” is still in progress.
According to the investigation by the ED, the agents sent people’s admissions to colleges/universities in Canada and sent them on student visas. Once in Canada, instead of joining the college, they illegally crossed the US-Canada border.
The agency has carried out searches across Mumbai, Nagpur, Gandhinagar, and Vadodara against several agents who were involved in sending illegal migrants via the Canadian college admissions. The search happened on December 10 and 19.
“During searches, it was found that around 35,000 illegal migrants are sent abroad every year by just two agents, based in Mumbai and Nagpur,” ED. The investigation also found out that there are around 1,700 agents in Gujarat. Around 3,500 across India were said to be involved in this racket. The ED estimates that more than 800 agents are still active despite a multi-agency crackdown on them.
According to the ED, at least two such agents based in Mumbai and Nagpur have signed agreements with several universities and colleges abroad for the admission of students on a commission basis. All potential illegal migrants are then prepared with required documentation for a student visa. During the searches, the ED also seized Rs 19 lakh in bank accounts of the accused besides the seizure of documents and digital devices.
