In the Donkey Route case, ED searched 13 places in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. This action is against the illegal immigration syndicate associated with 330 Indians deported from America. ED has already attached assets worth ₹5.41 crore in this case.
New Delhi: ED on Thursday searched 13 business and residential places in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi in the Donkey Route case. The raids have been going on since morning in coordination with police forces, covering the hideouts of “second and third level people involved in the chain” of the syndicate. Teams of ED’s Jalandhar zonal office are conducting searches at these 13 places on the basis of some inputs. This case is related to 330 Indians deported by America in a military cargo plane in February 2025, in connection with which ED had started investigation on the basis of several FIRs registered. ED investigation revealed that the deported Indians were sent to America through the donkey route. This included a large network of travel agents, middlemen, dunkers, foreign associates, hawala operators, people arranging accommodation and other logistics.
“The last two searches conducted by the ED and other evidence recovered during the investigation have revealed the names of second and third tier people involved in this chain,” officials said.
Recently, the ED had attached assets worth Rs 5.41 crore belonging to people who earned the proceeds of crime by illegally sending people abroad through the dinky route. ED’s Jalandhar zonal office attached these properties, which were generated from the proceeds of crime earned by agents who were involved in illegally sending people to the US through the ‘dinky’ route. The attached properties include agricultural land, houses, business places and bank accounts in the name of such agents and their family members.
The ED initiated the investigation on the basis of multiple FIRs registered by Punjab Police and Haryana Police under various sections of the BNS 2023 (earlier IPC 1860) and the Immigration Act, 1983. This case is related to the deportation of 330 Indian citizens to India by military cargo plane by the US government in February 2025, because these 330 people had entered America illegally.
ED’s investigation revealed that “these ‘agents’ and their associates used to cheat innocent people by promising to send them to America legally and used to charge huge amount for it.” “But they later transported people through dangerous routes to South American countries, forcing them to cross into the United States illegally through the U.S.-Mexico border,” the agency said.
“Along the way, people were harassed, extorted for more money and made to commit illegal acts. These ‘agents’ and their associates made the proceeds of crime by defrauding many people under false pretenses and extorting huge sums of money from them.” Earlier, the ED had conducted searches at 19 places in this case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act on July 9, 2025 and July 11, 2025, in which incriminating documents and items were found, including fake immigration stamps, fake visa stamps, records and digital devices.