Jalandhar, Oct. 26 -- After a probe lasting over a year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested a Delhi-based travel agent in connection with a money-laundering investigation linked to illegal immigration of Indians to the US through the "donkey route". The accused, Tarun Khosla, was brought from New Delhi on a transit remand and was produced in a special PMLA court in Jalandhar on Saturday. Khosla, who was on ED's radar, was remanded to the agency's custody for seven days, until October 30, for further investigation. The ED investigation stems from 19 FIRs registered by the Punjab and Haryana Police in connection with the deportation of 330 Indian nationals by the US government on military cargo planes in February 2025. These people were found to be living illegally in the US. The agency's regional headquarters in Jalandhar is probing the money-laundering angle of the illegal immigration racket. The central agency recorded statements of the deportees, which helped it identify suspects. Each deportee allegedly paid between Rs.40 lakh and Rs.55 lakh to travel agents whom they had never met in person but had came in their contact through local intermediaries. The ED asked the deportees to furnish all documents, including details of bank accounts used to transfer money to the agents. The ED investigation revealed that the deported Indians were sent to the US illegally and were facilitated through a complex network of persons, including travel agents, middlemen, 'donkers', overseas associates, hawala operators, those who provided lodging and other logistics support. The donkey route refers to the long and often hazardous journey undertaken by people to enter another country illegally. The probe found that the travel agents and their associates allegedly duped gullible people by luring them under the pretext of sending them to the US legally and charging hefty sums. However, they subsequently routed the migrants through dangerous routes across various South American countries, before helping them cross over into the US illegally through the USv-Mexico border. "Throughout the way, people were tortured, extorted for even more money and made to commit illegal acts. These 'agents' and their associates generated proceeds of crime by cheating various persons on false pretexts and obtaining large sums from them," the preliminary probe found. In December last year, the central agency carried out raids at several locations in Punjab, Haryana and New Delhi and seized Rs.4.62 crore cash, 6kg of gold bullion and 313kg of silver during searches at the business and residential premises of Khosla. The agency also found the documents relating to migrants kept as surety for payments from the premises of Balwan Singh, a Panipat-based travel agent. On December 15, the ED provisionally attached the movable and immovable properties worth Rs.5.41 crore, equivalent to the alleged proceeds of crime generated by agents, namely Shubham Sharma, Jagjit Singh and Surmukh Singh, who were allegedly involved in facilitating the illegal migration to the US. The attached properties include agricultural land, residential and business premises and bank accounts held in the names of such agents and their family members. In July last year, similar raids were conducted in 11 cities, including Amritsar, Sangrur, Patiala and Moga in Punjab, and Ambala, Kurukshetra and Karnal in Haryana....