Haryana man spent Rs 50 lakh to reach US via Dubai, Suriname; caught within 5 minutes

Akshay told the police that he had spoken to the travel agents in June 2024 to go to the US on a work visa. “The agents told me that they would charge Rs 35 lakh to send him to the USA legally by air. They said that first I would be sent to Dubai and then to America through a flight directly on a work visa. They sent me to Dubai on July 18, 2024, legally and kept me there for one month. On August 23, 2024, they sought Rs 30 lakh to send me to America from Dubai after five days. Next day, my family gave them Rs 30 lakh.”

However, the Haryana man was kept in Suriname for the next 20 days. In his police complaint, he said: “When my family questioned the travel agents for keeping me in Suriname, they replied that I would be sent to America in the next one or two days. Then, my illegal travel on a bus was arranged for America but the agents kept telling my family that I was being taken to the US via a flight. They also sought Rs 20 lakh more from my family which they arranged from an arhtiya (commission agent at a market) on November 28, 2024 and gave the money to them.”

Akshay told the police that the mafia which was taking him to the US handed him over to another mafia for further travel. “They got me to enter America from Mexico on January 25 this year but the American patrolling police caught me within five minutes. They took me to a detention centre from where I was deported on February 3 this year,” he said.

The complainant has urged the police to arrest the travel agents and get back his Rs 50 lakh from them. Acting on this complaint, the police have lodged the FIR at a police station of Hisar for cheating, criminal breach of trust and under the provisions of the Emigration Act.

A police spokesperson told The Indian Express that the investigation was underway.

Earlier, the Haryana Police had registered two FIRs against three travel agents on charges of cheating and criminal breach of trust on the complaints of two deportees and their family members. A senior police officer said that action would be taken in all those cases in which the deported youths would give them complaints.