Opted for ‘Dunki route’ but betrayed by his agent, an Indian migrant’s nightmare

 

 

Harpreet Singh Lalia (33), who was among 104 deportees brought in a United States of America’s military aircraft on Wednesday to Amritsar, faced a tough time in USA as he was kidnapped by mafia there and they asked for extortion money for his release. According to a list released by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), three deported individuals among them are from Maharashtra and Harpreet is one of them. Harpreet, who is a resident of Nagpur, said, “I was supposed to go to Canada through ‘Donkey Route’ but my agent betrayed me and I reached USA. I started from Nagpur with Canada’s visa and in between, I had a connecting flight from Abu Dhabi.

 

However, I was not allowed to board the flight there and I came back to New Delhi.” Harpreet stayed in the national capital for six days and then he went to Egypt. After reaching there, he went to Guatemala, and then stayed at the Mexico-US border. For all this, he spent almost Rs 50 lakh. He took a loan of Rs 25 lakh from Axis Bank and arranged the remaining amount from his friends and by selling some house furniture.

 

Harpreet also claimed that his hands and legs were cuffed throughout the journey and they were unshackled only after the military plane landed at the Amritsar Airport. It was the first batch of illegal immigrants from various states of USA that landed in Amritsar on Wednesday. Of them, 33 each were from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh. Upon arrival, the migrants were questioned by multiple agencies, including Punjab Police and central intelligence authorities, to verify any criminal records. Thereafter, they sent them to their native places with security.