Cash of Rs 4.62 crore, 313 kg of silver and 6 kg of gold bullion has been seized by the ED during fresh raids in an ongoing money laundering investigation linked to illegal transport of Indians to the US through the ‘dunki’ route, officials said on Friday.
The searches were launched at over a dozen locations in Delhi, Punjab (Jalandhar) and Haryana (Panipat) on Thursday.
The officials seized Rs 4.62 crore in cash, 313 kgs of silver and 6 kg of gold bullion worth a total Rs 19.13 crore from the premises of a Delhi-based travel agent, they claimed.
The investigators also recovered some “incriminating” chats from the phones and electronic devices found during the searches.
From the premises of a “key” player in Haryana, the officials said, records and documents related to ‘dunki’ business have been found.
The agent used to keep property documents of people wanting to go to the US illegally as surety for payment of his commission amount, the officials alleged.
The word “donkey”, “dunkey” or “dunki” refers to the donkey-like long and hard journey undertaken by immigrants to enter countries illegally.
The federal probe agency conducted the first round of raids in July and recently attached assets worth Rs 5 crore of some travel agents after identifying some alleged accused operatives who were behind this illegal racket.
The ED investigation stems from a clutch of FIRs registered by the Punjab and Haryana Police in connection with the deportation of 330 Indian nationals to India onboard military cargo planes in February 2025 by the US government. These people were found to be living “illegally” on the US soil.
Describing the alleged modus operandi undertaken by the agents, the ED had said that they “cheated” gullible people by luring them under the pretext of sending them to the US legally and charged “hefty” amounts for this.
However, the travellers were sent through dangerous routes via South American countries even as they were made to cross over into the US illegally through the country’s border with Mexico.
Throughout the journey, as per an ED statement issued a few days back, these people were tortured, extorted for even more money and made to commit illegal acts.
These agents and their associates generated proceeds of crime (definition for illicit money under the PMLA) by cheating these people, it said.
The US has deported more than 1,500 Indian nationals so far this year.
