The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a charge sheet in a case linked to illegal immigration to the United States (US) through the “donkey route”. The agency said the traffickers took money from people and sent it abroad using “hawala”.
Sunny, from Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh, and Shubham Sandhal alias Deep Hundi, from Peeragarhi in Delhi, were detained in July this year and have been named in the chargesheet. Gagandeep Singh alias Goldy, the main mastermind, had been arrested earlier in March.
In its statement on Thursday, the National Investigation Agency said Sunny played an active role in the “donkey route” trafficking network. He stayed in Mexico between 2021 and 2023 and worked with Goldy and others to help people cross borders illegally and even hold them against their will.
“He received payments through hawala and bank transfers. Even after returning to India in 2023, he continued coordinating logistics, managing hawala transactions, and directly sending victims via the dunki (donkey) route,” the statement said.
The agency described Sandhal as a hawala operator who was mainly helping move illegal funds for the trafficking racket led by Goldy and his group.
According to the NIA, Sandhal collected money from Indian clients and sent it abroad through hawala channels. “His role was to smoothly manage and move the illicit funds across India, Mexico, and the US as part of the illegal immigration racket,” the agency said.
The NIA added that Goldy had no licence or legal permit to send people abroad. He used the “donkey route” to push people into the US via Spain, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. The agency said it was still investigating others linked to the case and was working to break similar networks that cheat people with false promises of visas.
Since January 2025, the US has deported 388 undocumented Indians. Of these, 333 were brought back to Amritsar on three special flights. A Punjab Police Special Investigation Team has also registered more than a dozen cases while investigating such trafficking groups.
An official said the NIA was coordinating with US and Canadian agencies to track traffickers based there. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also looking into illegal immigration rackets that use the student visa route to the US and Canada.
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