‘Donkey route’: Agents insist on ‘solo wanderer’ profile before starting journey

Tribune News Service

Sumedha Sharma

Gurugram, January 9

To increase their chances of success on “donkey routes”, illegal immigrants bound for Europe or the US are asked to move about like a “solo wanderer” and show “considerable travel history” on their passports.

96,917 Indians arrested in 2023

As per the US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), a staggering 96,917 Indians were arrested attempting to enter the US illegally in 2023. A majority chose Nicaragua as their transit route. Nicaragua has become the first choice owing to its porous borders, lenient visa policy and “expert” agents. It has recorded an unusually high number of chartered flights landing with tourists, raising eyebrows in the CBP.

The target group, primarily men aged 25-40 years, are advised to go on foreign trips to offbeat, visa-free European locations before embarking on a donkey route. They are told to create social media profiles, and agents even offer to manage them to support the image. This helps them enter transit countries posing as tourists before undertaking the perilous last stretch. The entire cost, along with “legal cover”, is around Rs 1 crore. A majority of 276 Indian “tourists” on Airbus A340, grounded in Paris last month, came across “active” travellers who had many stamps on their passports. “To ensure that the route is legally safe, it is important that they have valid visas, or are on visa-free route as tourists for maximum part of the journey. With increased checks, it is important that the transit countries allow them hassle-free entry, and for that they need to be tourists. Agents get some genuine visa stamps before sending them to transit countries. A majority of people sent back from France, who were on the Nicaragua plane, had their passport full of tourist visa stamps, especially from Europe,” revealed a CID official.

A travel agent in Gujarat, who reportedly helped a passenger with tourist visa, revealed that it was preferred to have a visa for Nepal, Dubai, Armenia, Germany, Austria, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, etc., on the passport before going on the actual journey. The preferred transit countries for illegal entry to Europe include Bosnia, Portugal, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. For the US, the popular transit countries are Latin and Central American countries like Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Spain, Brazil and Venezuela.

“These countries have either visa on arrival for Indians, or give tourist visa to Indians easily. You then enter Mexico from there, and then the US,” said an agent.

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