According to the complaint lodged at Tatijharia Police Station, once in Brazil, the victims were handed over to an international smuggling network. The traffickers attempted to illegally move them across multiple countries — Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala — en route to the United States by land and river.“Sonu Kumar remained in the custody of traffickers for 50 days. During this period, the accused allegedly extorted approximately Rs 45 lakh from Kumar’s family. His father, under pressure, reportedly sold ancestral property and transferred the funds through various means to associates of Uday Kumar,” stated the official communique.The victim eventually reached San Diego via Mexico City but was apprehended at the US border and held at a detention centre for nearly four months, and was finally deported to India in March 2025, it said.After returning home, Sonu’s attempts to recover the extorted money were allegedly met with threats and physical assault by Uday Kumar and his brother Chohan Prasad. Fearing for his life, Sonu Kumar lodged a formal complaint, leading to FIR No. 32/25 dated 31/07/2025 at Tatijharia Police Station under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).Later, following a direction from the Hazaribagh Superintendent of Police, a special task force led by Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Bishrugarh, was constituted and the five accused persons were arrested.During the investigation, police have uncovered a list of individuals allegedly trafficked to the US via the ‘donkey route’.
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