ED raids 29 locations in Gujarat in effort to bust human trafficking syndicates

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday carried out raids at 29 locations across Gujarat as part of its probe into syndicates smuggling people to the United States via Canada and Mexico, weeks after a man was arrested from the state in connection with a disturbing human trafficking case involving four individuals who died in a blizzard while being illicitly transported to the US via Canada on January 19, 2022.

On February 21, the Chicago police apprehended Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, infamously known as “Dirty Harry”, in connection with the deaths of Jagdish Baldev  Patel, his wife Vaishali, and their children Vihangi and Dharmik, whose frozen bodies were found near Emerson, Manitoba.

The United States District Court, northern district of Illinois, has brought grave charges against “Dirty Harry”, accusing him of “transportation of illegal aliens and conspiracy to bring and attempt to bring an illegal alien to the United States”.

People familiar with the development said the agency has taken up three trafficking cases being probed by the Gujarat Police against Bharat alias Bobby Patel, Raju Bechar Prajapati and Bhavesh Ashok Patel, among others.

According to investigators, “Dirty Harry” is suspected to be linked to Bobby Patel, who was arrested by the Gujarat Police in December, 2022 but was let off on bail by a court in Ahmedabad.

Besides Gujarat, ED is also developing intelligence on human trafficking syndicates operating from other states such as Kerala, Punjab etc, the officer said, adding that the agency suspects that human trafficking rings send people to European countries like France, Spain, Estonia, or Canada and Nicaragua, etc and from there to Mexico and then they are forced to cross the border of America in an unlawful manner.