The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) said on Tuesday that it was probing the involvement of over 200 Canadian colleges in the alleged human trafficking of thousands of Indian students
The ED's Ahmedabad zonal office conducted searches on December 10 and 19, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), at eight locations in Mumbai, Nagpur, Gandhinagar, and Vadodara.
The searches were part of the ongoing probe into the `Bhavesh Ashokbhai Patel and others' human trafficking case (the Dingucha case). The suspects had been sending Indian students to the USA through Canada through illegal channels. Bank deposits of ₹19 lakh were frozen, and incriminating documents and two vehicles were seized.
The ED said it initiated an investigation based on an FIR registered by police against Bhavesh Ashokbhai Patel and others after a family of four persons from Gujarat was found dead on the Canada-US Border on January 19, 2022.
The human traffickers had charged Rs. 55 lakh to 60 lakh per person promising the family to illegally enter the US through Canada, the agency said.
The ED investigation revealed that as part of their offer to get the family into the US illegally, the traffickers had arranged admission of the individuals to Canadian colleges and applied for Canadian student visas.
After arriving in Canada, these students illegally tried to cross the US-Canada border and never joined the colleges in Canada, the ED said. The fee received by colleges based in Canada was remitted back to the individuals’ account.
It was revealed that two entities based in Mumbai and Nagpur were working, on a commission basis, with foreign entities to recruit Indian students.
During the searches, it was found that around 25,000 students were referred by one entity, and more than 10,000 students by another, to various foreign colleges every year.
It was also found that there were around 1,700 agents/partners of one entity in Gujarat alone and around 3,500 agents/partners of other entities all over India. Of these around 800 are active, the ED said.
"It is further revealed that around 112 colleges based in Canada have entered into an agreement with one entity and more than 150 with another entity. Their involvement in the instant case is under investigation," the ED added.
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