Police create blueprint to fight human trafficking from Gujarat

“Illegal travel to other countries is extremely risky yet many people choose such a route, contact dubious travel agents and get trapped. DGP Ashish Bhatia held a high level meet with senior officials of AHTU and state IB along with police officials of such districts from where illegal migration has been witnessed, in order to create a blueprint to thwart such activities and take strict action against people involved in the racket,” read a statement from the DGP’s office.

On January 19, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) found four persons frozen to death in Manitoba province of Canada, near the US border. The family of four, including a three-year-old boy, were later identified to be from Dingucha village of Kalol in Gandhinagar, who according to Canadian law enforcement agencies, were trying to illegally enter the US on foot amid severe cold conditions.

The case threw spotlight on an alleged illegal human trafficking racket prevalent in Gujarat and other states of India where citizens are charged exorbitant sums by the traffickers to illegally settle them in US, UK , Canada or other countries without VISA or passport.

After the Manitoba tragedy, a human trafficking network was busted in a joint operation by the Gujarat Police and Delhi Police in Delhi and Kolkata where 15 persons from Gujarat who were allegedly kept in illegal confinement were rescued. A local travel agent was also arrested in the case.

Recently, the Crime Branch team of Ahmedabad city police arrested four persons, including two travel agents, who were allegedly involved in creating fake passports for persons to be trafficked to US and Canada.

“The head of CID Crime of Gujarat Police has been made the nodal officer of the state to keep a watch on the human trafficking racket. A blueprint has been made to keep a watch on travel agents involved in such activities and take action against them after evidence is found,” added the statement.

According to the statement, the traffickers’ modus operandi includes changing names of clients in passports, one person using another person’s genuine passport, granting of VISA through duplicate signatures, travelling to a mid-stop country such as Canada, African nations or Mexico before illegally entering the destination country.

“Shocking realities have been narrated by those who have suffered from such trafficking rackets. We make an appeal to the citizens to keep away from such agents and report to police if they happen to come across any such racket,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, the Detection of Crime Branch of Ahmedabad City Police on Sunday recovered fake identity cards from a four-member trafficking gang they arrested on February 18.

The DCB arrested four accused — Haresh Patel, Hardik Patel, Raju Prajapati and Rajat Chavda from Mehsana and Ahmedabad — for their alleged involvement in the trafficking racket. According to police, Hardik Patel and Haresh Patel are local travel agents, Rajat Chavda is a passport agent while Raju Prajapati is a client from Mehsana who had contacted them.

Police said the travel agents had created a fake passport of Raju Prajapati as Rajendra Patel and another fake passport for one Shilpa Patel showed as Kamini Patel, wife of Rajendra Patel, in order to send them illegally to US via Mexico via Nigeria.

“We confiscated 78 passports, 44 Aadhaar cards, 13 voter ID cards and 23 PAN cards from the residence of Haresh Patel. Additionally, rubber stamps bearing names of various banks were seized from the house of Rajat Chavda,” said Chaitanya Mandlik, deputy commissioner of police, Crime, Ahmedabad City Police.

“Investigation has revealed that Haresh managed to send 28 to 30 persons to the US illegally with fake passports, charging Rs 65 lakh from each party. Earlier, the gang used to acquire temporary VISA for any European country to send the clients illegally to US. However, of late, after VISA restrictions became strict in Europe, the gang has started sending clients to Nigeria and then to Mexico and eventually cross over to the US,” Mandlik added.