India News | ED Arrests Delhi-based Ticketing Agent in 'Dunkey Route Case’ Linked to Indians Deported from USA in Feb 2025
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The agent, identified as Tarun Khosla, was held under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. He was arrested on October 23 and has been granted ED custody till October 30 by a special PMLA court
New Delhi [India], October 27 (ANI): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said it has arrested a Delhi-based ticketing agent in the ‘Dunkey Route case’ relating to Indians deported from the USA in February 2025.
The agent, identified as Tarun Khosla, was held under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. He was arrested on October 23 and has been granted ED custody till October 30 by a special PMLA court.
ED's Jalandhar zonal office arrested Khosla following its ongoing investigation initiated on the basis of various First Information Reports (FIRs) registered by Punjab Police and Haryana Police under various sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 (erstwhile Indian Penal Code, 1860), and the Emigration Act, 1983, and after more than 300 Indian nationals were deported from the USA in February 2025 for having entered the USA illegally through the Mexico border.
ED said its investigation has revealed that "persons wishing to go to the USA were induced by agents and middlemen on the false promise of sending them through legal channels and were instead sent through the ‘Dunkey route', i.e, crossing the borders of several South and Central American countries illegally through dangerous routes with the help of local donkers and the mafia."
Such persons were charged about Rs 30 lakh to Rs 60 lakh, said the ED in a statement.
Previously, ED searches were conducted in this case on July 9, 2025, and July 11, 2025, at 19 locations wherein incriminating documents, records and digital devices and materials were found and recovered, including bogus immigration stamps and bogus visa stamps pertaining to Nicaragua and Ethiopia.
On December 15, 2025, ED said it had provisionally attached movable and immovable properties worth Rs 5.41 crore, including agricultural land, residential premises, business premises and bank account balances derived out/equivalent to the Proceeds of Crime generated by various agents who were involved in sending persons to the USA illegally.
Subsequently, ED had carried out searches at multiple locations across Punjab, Haryana and Delhi on December 18, 2025, and December 19, 2025, during which cash of Rs 4.62 crore, gold bars and coins weighing about 5.9 kg and silver bars weighing about 313 kg (total values amounting to Rs 19.14 crore), besides incriminating documents and digital devices, were seized from the premises of Khosla.
In addition to the same, ED said over 50 original passports of third parties, diaries, records of transactions, property documents and digital devices were also recovered from other premises.
The ED investigation has revealed that Khosla was a key facilitator of the Dunkey Route network. He has been involved with multiple agents from Punjab and Haryana who used to collect passports and money from the persons wishing to go to the USA and handed them over to him in Delhi.
Khosla then arranged visas and air tickets to transit countries in South America, such as Guyana, Suriname, Ecuador and El Salvador, and further facilitated the movement of such persons towards the US border using an illegal and dangerous route. He was a key decision-maker on routes and pricing for each person travelling through the “Dunkey Route”.
With the arrest of Khosla, ED said three separate routes undertaken for illegal entry into the USA have been identified. Route A: air to El Salvador, road to Mexico, then to Tijuana and into the USA. Through this route, about Rs 35-40 lakh was charged per person. Route B: via Dubai or Addis Ababa to Guyana, then road through Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama jungle, Guatemala, Mexico and Tijuana. About Rs 25-30 lakh was charged per person through this route. Route C (journey described by a deportee): Guyana, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and then the US border.
"Data retrieved from Khosla's seized mobile phones revealed his incriminating chats, indicating that he acted as an immigration clearance fixer. His chats with an international contact reveal on-ground coordination at foreign airports, including collection of money for immigration clearance, facilitation of tickets, handling of passengers, and payments in USD," said the federal agency.
Instructions such as "OK to Board" endorsements and coordination with airline and immigration personnel further established his operational control over transit arrangements, it said.
ED's investigation further revealed that Khosla is a major player in the said illegal business of the Dunki route, who used to make arrangements for sending persons to the USA through the illegal Dunki route, such as VISA clearance for South American countries, arranging fake and forged yellow fever vaccination certificates, booking tickets, and handling the donkers.
"He had chats with foreign donkers such as 'Mike' in Mexico, 'Ali' in Brazil and another contact in Mexico, 'Kristi', who used to manage donkers in respect of the crossing of persons through the Dunki route and related payments."
ED said cash deposits to the tune of Rs 30.38 crore through 414 cash-credit transactions were found during Financial Year 2022-23 to Financial Year 2024-25 in the bank account of Khosla's proprietorship firm BJ International.
"The investigation so far has revealed that this was a well-organised network, facilitating such illegal travel by organising and co-ordinating end-to-end operations, luring the general gullible public and earning huge commissions from such people, over the last several years," added the ED. (ANI)
(The above story is verified and authored by ANI staff, ANI is South Asia's leading multimedia news agency with over 100 bureaus in India, South Asia and across the globe. ANI brings the latest news on Politics and Current Affairs in India & around the World, Sports, Health, Fitness, Entertainment, & News. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)