00:00India Today, remember, has been consistently tracking and following about these illegal
00:09immigration routes, Operation Junkie, as it is called.
00:12There's been an impact of that.
00:14Action will be taken against travel agents.
00:16Remember, India Today's Special Investigation Team exposed how these travel agents reach
00:22out to the vulnerable, to those they realize are desperate to move abroad.
00:27Cases of over 40 travel agents have been revoked in Amritsar.
00:32Cops have issued notice to 271 travel agents in Punjab.
00:36The cops have also said strict action will be taken against unauthorized travel agents.
00:41Remember, it's not the job of the travel agents to be organizing this sort of immigration
00:46route or junkie route, as it is called, which can be extremely dangerous.
00:49It can involve a mafia nexus as well.
00:52And now in the backdrop of the deportation that's happening, it's this investigation
00:57report that's been taken cognizance of by the Punjab authorities especially, and therefore
01:04now take a look of why this is so significant.
01:07Four aircrafts arrived from the United States of America in the past few weeks, and hundreds
01:13of illegal Indian immigrants have been deported back.
01:17It literally looks like a multi-million dollar business, a nexus.
01:22Many hubs, for example, are in Punjab, especially in hubs like Jalandhar and other areas.
01:27Here's a special report.
01:30The one that has now been taken cognizance of by the authorities, the special investigation
01:34report by India Today's Nitin Jain.
01:44Chasing their dreams for a better, brighter future in a foreign land, thousands of desperate
01:52Indian citizens risk dangerous, treacherous journeys.
02:00The aim is to settle down in the US, Canada, Australia, or the UK.
02:09These illegal immigration routes entail physical risks and financial loss.
02:20In real life too, illegal immigration rackets are selling the same dream.
02:27At Krishna Enterprises in Jalandhar city, we met Sahil Verma and his business partner.
02:35We introduced ourselves as visitors from Gujarat, seeking assistance in sending our
02:44grown-up children abroad.
02:47After our interaction with Sahil, we later found that Krishna Enterprises is not even
02:53registered with the government to deal with visa and immigration matters.
03:00Sahil explained the different options available to us.
03:25He clarified that he could arrange for them to enter Europe, but not on a Schengen visa.
03:35Instead he proposed the Serbia to Italy route, using the donkey method via a taxi.
03:42We were worried about safety, but Sahil clarified that there were different types of donkey
03:49routes, and the cost depends on the mode of journey one chooses.
04:08Sahil even mentioned that though America was deporting illegal immigrants, he could still
04:14send people into the US through the donkey routes.
04:44To prove his credibility, Sahil showed us a recent video of people being smuggled using
04:56the donkey route.
04:59He claimed that two of his clients had successfully crossed over using this method.
05:14Sahil even admitted that his business partner had sent his own child via the donkey route
05:21to the US.
05:34Immigration consultants in Jalandhar also openly offer political asylum to those willing
05:41to pay.
05:45Our investigation led us to one such consultancy.
05:51We met consultant Raman at the visa engineer's office in Jalandhar.
06:21Raman further advised that we would need to participate in political rallies and get
06:36photographs clicked as proof, which would help strengthen our case for asylum.
07:06Raman assured us that the lawyer would apply for political asylum based on the documents
07:15provided.
07:19The initial embassy fee would be 1.85 lakhs, and the full payment would be taken only after
07:26the visa was granted.
07:29If any document is missing, they would arrange it for an additional fee.
07:58This investigation exposes the lucrative business of fake political asylum applications,
08:06revealing how agents and legal intermediaries are manipulating the system to facilitate
08:14immigration to Canada under false pretexts.
08:19A report by Special Investigation Team's Nitin Jain in Jalandhar for India Today.
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