M A I N   N E W S

ILLEGAL MIGRANTS
A TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION
Smuggling humans a Rs 1,000-cr business
Punjabi youth fall easy prey
Prabhjot Singh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 18
Smuggling human beings is a multi-million rupee business in Punjab where hundreds of youth, unable to face poverty and unemployment and lured by the promise of a comfortable lifestyle in developed countries, have been the willing victims.

Undeterred by the Malta boat tragedy of December 25,1996, in which 170 youths from the Doaba region of the state, besides 88 Pakistanis and 149 Sri Lankan illegal immigrants, were drowned in the Malta-Sicily channel after their boat collided with a ship during a mid-sea transfer, the business of illegal immigration has risen sharply, especially in the Doaba belt and parts of the Malwa area. Official apathy and the shrinking job market are the strong contributing factors.

Equally important has been the strong bonds between the collaborators or suppliers from Punjab and those abroad, making the business of helping illegal immigrants an international racket. The increasingly clever and clandestine methods used by the criminals, the high profits involved and the non-interference of other countries, which often welcome the “illegal immigrants” into their territories as “refugees”, have been the supporting factors.

Investigations reveal that 10,000 to 20,000 able-bodied youth from Punjab contribute to this flourishing business each year by paying anything between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh each on being promised greener pastures abroad. The destinations, though varied , are mainly the USA, Canada, Australia, England, Germany, Italy and Greece.

The success rate varies. While the success stories are seldom played up in the media, failures get screaming headlines. Take the recent case of the drowning of 17 Indians. Though details of this tragedy of June 13 in the Morava river, dividing the Czech and Slovak Republics, are still not available, most of the victims are feared to be Punjabis. This tragedy follows reports of 29 Punjabi youths languishing in Pakistani jails after their attempts to sneak into Greece from Lebanon were thwarted. These youths, living in pitiable conditions, are awaiting their release.

In yet another unsuccessful case, on May 18, two Punjabis — Karnail Singh and Gurokh Singh — were jailed for trying to smuggle 12 illegal Indian immigrants into Britain in the back of a refrigerated metallic container packed with meat. These immigrants were sitting, wearing coats, on packs of chilled meat.

These arrests revived memories of a gory incident in which 58 Chinese stowaways were suffocated to death in an airtight truck of tomatoes at Dover in England on June 20 last year.

In another unfortunate incident , on March 29 this year, 33 Indians were discovered by the Czech police hidden in a truck which was heading from the Lovosice Ro-La for Germany. This was the largest-ever group of refugees attempting to cross over to Germany in a truck. Again, most of those arrested were Punjabis.

According to the latest reports of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), thousands of illegal immigrants from India in general and Punjab in particular are languishing in various jails, refugee homes and refugee camps in Europe alone.

The Czech area and Slovakia are the latest transit points for Indian illegal immigrants who, after getting political refugee status there, continue to pursue their goal of getting into a more affluent nation, say Germany. Greece, Italy and Austria are the other favoured countries.

Similarly, Mexico has become the “waiting room” for illegal immigrants trying to sneak into the USA . A recent report in International Herald Tribune said that a visit to Mexico’s main immigration detention centre was a glimpse into the globalisation of trafficking in people: nearly 400 persons from 39 nations were being held — 85 from Ecuador, 84 from India, 26 from Cuba, 25 from China and the rest from Albania, Russia, Ukraine, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Yemen, Jordan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

While after the June 20 incident last year, in which 58 illegal immigrants were suffocated to death, the Chinese Government launched a major crackdown on those engaged in human trafficking, unfortunately, after the much graver Malta boat tragedy, neither the Indian Government nor the Punjab Government initiated any action to check such trafficking.

“Instead of legislation, educating people about the risks involved in human trafficking may be more useful,” commented a senior official of the Punjab Government, maintaining that the state Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, had during his last meeting with the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, taken up the issue of the 29 Punjabi youths languishing in Pakistani jails.

The state government, he said, had no mechanism to monitor illegal immigrants from the state who were in jails, refugee camps or facing trial for being “undocumented migrants” abroad.

Interestingly, no figures of cases registered against those engaged in human smuggling in the state are available . The police authorities maintain that they do not keep separate records of human trafficking or smuggling. Complaints, if any, are registered under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (cheating).

Devinder Singh is one of the 29 Punjabi youths in Pakistani jails. His septuagenarian father, Mr Sucha Singh, a marginal farmer, petitioned the state government last month to seek the release of his son . On his petition, a case was registered against Avtar Singh and his son, Chatinderjit Singh, of Hoshiarpur for cheating Devinder Singh on the pretext of sending him to Greece.

Mr Sucha Singh maintained that his son paid Rs 2.75 lakh to Avtar Singh. Chatinderjit Singh, who worked and lived in Lebanon, Mr Sucha Singh alleged, took control of the illegal immigrants sent from India by his father and organised their illegal entry into Greece. But in the present case, the group of 29 illegal immigrants was pushed back by the Turkish security forces into Iran from where it was sent to Afghanistan and ultimately ended up in Pakistani jails. Since the group members have already undergone their sentence of two months each, their release has been delayed for want of their identity papers. None of them had any travel document.

In fact, the golden rule for those seeking to sneak into an alien country is to destroy their original travel documents, including passports , to pre-empt deportation to their home country.

Interestingly, Mr Sucha Singh has also been questioned by the police after the arrest of both Avtar Singh and Chatinderjit Singh. He is now being asked to explain from where he got the money to pay Avtar Singh.

“The onus is on us to prove our innocence,” he said while talking to The Tribune at Punjab Police headquarters, where he had been summoned by a Deputy Superintendent of Police (Crime). “At Hoshiarpur, the police is pressing us to effect a compromise with Avtar Singh and his son,” he added.

The police expresses its helplessness, maintaining that in a majority of the cases of these 29 youths there is lack of evidence as the deal for getting them into Greece was struck in Lebanon where they had gone legally. “Most of the money transactions took place in Lebanon. Only a few victims went from Punjab to join a group which was waiting there.

“It is in Lebanon and other ‘softer’ countries, where getting visas is not a big problem, that the actual racket starts. The prospective candidates, carrying only rucksacks or backpacks, endure squalid travelling conditions on their way to their destinations. At times they have to crisscross the countryside at night, through snowclad hills and hostile terrain. They even cross rivers and channels at the risk of getting swept away by strong currents. Some may get attacked by wild animals.

“They survive on just a few pieces of dry bread, some tea and water.

“The job of the agent or smuggler-trafficker ends once the illegal immigrants have been pushed into the promised country,” remarked a police official, maintaining that problems arise only in cases like the Malta boat tragedy or when such immigrants end up in the jails of hostile countries. Otherwise, the racket goes on unchecked .

At a glance

• Human trafficking is a thriving Rs 1,000 crore annual business in India
• The Geneva-based International Organisation for Migration believes that it is a $ 7 billion global business with links to the international arms trade, drugs, prostitution and child abuse
• Smuggling immigrants into Britain has become a multi-million pound business with stowaways ready to pay up to L10,000 (US $ 14, 370) and endure squalid travelling conditions to escape poverty for the promise of a better life in Western Europe

Factors at play

• Escape from poverty and unemployment
• Increase earnings and improve standard of living
• Escape from persecution, conflict or war

Operators’ network

The play of money

• Most of them pay upfront, knowing that they are acting illegally
• Some pay, knowing they are acting illegally, for merely jumping the queue to get migration legally
• The rest pay, knowing they are taking a calculated risk

Recent cases

• 17 Indians believed to have drowned in the Morava river dividing the Czech and Slovak Republics (June 13, 2001)
• 29 Punjabi boys languishing in Pakistani jails (April, 2001)
• Indians among 429 illegal immigrants caught at a construction site in Malaysia (April 24, 2001)
• Indians among 118 illegal immigrants detained by the British police (April 24, 2001)
• 58 Chinese illegal immigrants suffocated in the back of a truck on their way to Britain (June, 2000)
• 26 Aman-bound migrants arrested at IGI Airport (May 23, 2000)
• 14 illegal immigrants die in Arizona forest in the USA (2001).
• 170 Punjabi boys killed in Malta boat tragedy (December 25, 1996)

(To be concluded)