Overview

• The ED has completed 18 searches in Punjab and Haryana targeting the “donkey route” racket under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
• Raids in Mansa, Kurukshetra and Karnal yielded forged emigration stamps from multiple countries, fake visa templates, incriminating papers and digital devices.
• Recovered records indicate payments of ₹45–55 lakh per migrant were routed through hawala networks to launder proceeds from human trafficking.
• Investigators have mapped a clandestine network of Indian and foreign travel agents, middlemen and “donkers” who manipulated visa records to lure migrants onto risky routes.
• The ED plans to file PMLA money-laundering and human-trafficking charges based on FIRs from Punjab and Haryana police as the NIA detains two alleged traffickers.