NEW DELHI/AMRITSAR: A batch of 12 illegal Indian immigrants deported from the US to Panama arrived Sunday in Delhi via Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight, making them the first group to be sent back without restraints since three American military aircraft brought 332 deportees to Amritsar within a fortnight this month.
The 12 deportees are said to be among 50 undocumented Indian nationals who reportedly arrived in Panama recently. Panama has been assisting the US in its deportation efforts.
According to local media reports, the UN-affiliated International Organisation for Migration helped purchase plane tickets for people of various nationalities whose citizenship was confirmed, 17 of them Indians. More deportees from the group are expected next week once MEA verifies their nationality.
Deportation from Panama is being carried out under the Regional Assisted Voluntary Return Programme, an IOM protection and support response to facilitate the dignified, safe, regular and orderly return, as well as voluntary and based on an informed decision, of migrants to their countries of origin.
Four men from Punjab in the latest batch took a connecting IndiGo flight from Delhi to Amritsar.
Airport authorities in the city were informed in advance about the arrival of Patiala resident Jatinder Singh, Maninder Dutt of Jalandhar, and Jugraj Singh and Harpreet Singh from Gurdaspur, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether they came unescorted all the way from Panama.
Official sources said after the mandatory debriefing that Jatinder, 34, paid a travel agent from Patiala Rs 52 lakh to help him enter the US through a route criss-crossing Guyana, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico.
Maninder, 21, put his faith and Rs 42 lakh in the hands of a Delhi-based illegal immigration agent, who then sent him on a perilous journey through Spain, Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. Jugraj and Harpreet, both 30, paid Rs 38 lakh each to an agent from Batala and reached the US via Nicaragua.
Punjab NRI minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said the state govt had registered cases against 15 travel agents based on complaints from natives of the state who were deported from the US this month. Of these, three agents have been arrested, while police have been raiding offices and homes in search of the absconding 12.
Sources said the deportees who arrived on Sunday told authorities they intended to file cases against the travel agents who duped them only if there was a chance of getting their money back.
The first US military flight that arrived on Feb 5 brought 104 deportees, with both men and women handcuffed and their feet shackled. The second flight, carrying 119 deportees, arrived on Feb 15. The third flight, with 112 deportees, landed on Feb 16, this time with only the men in shackles.
(With inputs from Yudhvir Rana in Amritsar)
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