Chandigarh, June 19
Changing the photograph on the passport without damaging the page is an art in which some of the human traffickers specialise. Last month, four persons, including two women, were deported to Kolkata from the USA after forgeries in their passports were detected. One of the women belonged to Ludhiana.

The cost of a passport with a landed immigrant visa varies between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh. But in this case, each of the victims had doled out Rs 15 lakh to get into the USA. In all these cases, the photographs had been replaced without damaging the cover page of the passports.

In fact, the international human trafficking networks are able to respond to the whole spectrum of needs of illegal immigrants, including the provision of fraudulent or genuine documents and the arrangement of accommodation and support in transit countries. One of the main characteristics of these networks is flexibility in the reaction to new, unforeseen situations because they have members located along the trafficking routes. The routes they use are often well-tested for carrying out other criminal activities such as drug trafficking.

For example, last year when 26 persons, leaving for Amman from Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, were apprehended, they were found to be possessing forged continuous discharge certificates (Seaman Book) issued from Panama, which were to be used to get them on board Europe-bound ships from Aqaba as sailors.

These youths, mostly from Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Jalandhar, were to fly to Amman, pretending to be tourists, enroute to Larnaca. But in reality from Larnaca, they were to board a ship, using forged Seaman Books, to sneak into Europe. Each one of them had paid Rs 3 lakh to their travel agents.

Such clandestine activities, going by the definitions suggested by the United Nations in the Global Programme Against Trafficking in Human Beings, warrant action under various provisions of the law.

For example, “smuggling” is defined as the procurement of illegal entry of a person into a state of which the latter person is not a national with the objective of making a profit.

“Trafficking” is the recruitment, transportation or receipt of persons through deception or coercion for the purposes of prostitution, other sexual exploitation or forced labour.

Recently, two Punjab Ministers, who had gone to Canada to participate in a Baisakhi nagar kirtan procession, remained embroiled in a controversy. Two members of their entourage, who had gone on the Minister’s Permit — special visa granted at the instance of a Federal Minister of the intended country of visit — disappeared on reaching Vancouver. Their disappearance was a big embarrassment to Mr Herb Dhaliwal, the first Indo-Canadian to figure in a Federal Council of Ministers in Canada, as his permits had given them entry into Canada.

At present, the rate for getting an illegal alien into Canada is Rs 7.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.

It is not politicians alone whose involvement in this flourishing racket is suspect. There are other channels which have been in this business in a big way. Though the embassies and high commissions of various countries in New Delhi and their offices in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai are now aware of the rackets run by these”gangsters” in the name of taking cultural troupes and hockey, kabaddi and other sports teams abroad, still some manage to hoodwink the law-enforcement agencies.

Each embassy and high commission has a list of blacklisted “individuals” and “organisations” whose applications for visas are not only rejected but even the documents submitted by them are confiscated.

Australia, Canada, the USA, Germany, the UK, Italy and New Zealand have been attractive destinations for potential migrants, primarily because of their relative economic and political stability. Each of these countries fixes an annual quota of intake of immigrants in different trades. For example, in 1998-99 Australia’s intake was 68,000 under the migration programme and a further 12,000 under the humanitarian (refugee) programme. It is the second part which supports human trafficking.

The legal way to migrate to any of the above destinations is also a long-drawn and costly process. These nations, besides other things, charge a hefty processing and landing fee. The processing fee is not refundable.

The past one decade has witnessed a mushrooming of immigration consultants and experts to assist those seeking to migrate to other countries. They, too, charge a hefty fee which in no case works out to be less than Rs 1 lakh.

Recently, a Toronto-based barrister-cum-solicitor, Mrs Raj Pannu, during her visit to Chandigarh, expressed shock and dismay over the manner in which the business of providing consultancy to prospective immigrants was flourishing here.

Mrs Pannu, who has been offered a position on the Bench of the Federal Court as an Immigration Specialist from July 4 this year, wanted the Indian Government to adopt legislation to regulate the business of consultancy in immigration affairs. Under the law, lawyers are not entitled to solicit clients through newspaper advertisements or by any other means.