4,300 Indians under probe for illegally immigrating to US from 2021-24: ED

The ED probe has found that many agents have taken the education route for illegal immigration of Indians into the US. Under this, Indians who want to go to the US are given admission to Canadian colleges. Based on these admissions, they get Canadian visas and land in the country. But these “students” never join the college and are taken to the US by associated agents in Canada via land routes.

“It is found during investigation that the payment of fees to colleges based in Canada was made through EbixCash, a Financial Service Company which provides foreign remittance services. Upon enquiries with EbixCash, it is gathered that around 8500 transactions were made to various colleges based in Canada on behalf of students of Gujarat from 07.09.2021 to 09.08.2024,” the ED investigation report has said.

According to the report, out of these 8,500 transactions, around 4,300 are duplicate individuals or users indicating that the transaction was recorded twice against the same individual. “Thus, in total 4,200 such transactions are under investigation. It is suspected that these transactions were made with the intention of sending the individual linked to each such transaction to the US via Canada,” a senior ED official said.

Sources said that to date more than 650 such transactions have been verified, and about a dozen agents in Gujarat and Punjab are under probe.

According to the ED report, the agents are paid a commission, which ranges from Rs 40 to Rs 50 lakh, to arrange admission in Canadian colleges for potential US immigrants and fees are paid. Once the potential immigrant reaches Canada, the admission is withdrawn on one pretext or the other. The fees, which can range between Rs 60 lakh and Rs 1 crore are refunded. The visa, however, remains intact.

Agents weaved a web of complex financial transactions to accomplish the task of illegal immigration, the investigation has found. An account was opened for potential immigrants by the agents who would pour enough money, including college admission fees. This was then transferred into a fixed deposit and was used to open an overdraft account, which was then used to send the money through Ebix.

After the admission was withdrawn, the money would be back into the overdraft account and then transferred to a third person. Meanwhile, the fixed deposit was then used to close the overdraft account. ED sources said this strategy was aimed at creating multiple layers of transactions to wipe out financial tracks.

Using overdraft accounts ensured that high amount transactions did not generate suspicious transaction reports which could be tracked by enforcement agencies. Officials said use of payment gateways such as Ebix was to circumvent the rigorous checks involved in savings bank account transactions.

ED had launched its investigation on the basis of a January 2023 First Information Report (FIR) by the Gujarat Police in connection with the deaths of four members of a family from the state who froze to death while crossing over to the US from Canada in 2022.

Seven more Indians were arrested at that time by US authorities for trying to illegally enter the United States via Canada. One Bhavesh Patel was found to have arranged visas for the deceased through a Gujarat-based education immigration firm KIEC International LLP, which is under probe for being the conduit for many such illegal immigration attempts.