After a chartered flight from Dubai with 200 Indian passengers, including around 75 from Gujarat, was sent back from the Jamaican capital of Kingston, intelligence agencies are probing the role of notorious Canada-based human trafficker Pablo, alias Pali, in the incident, said sources.

The flight was sent back from Kingston as the authorities were not satisfied with the documents the passengers were carrying. Though the passengers said they were tourists, the Jamaican authorities were not convinced about their claim. A lookout circular had earlier been issued against Pali, who hails from Jalandhar, the sources said, adding that he was involved in a similar incident in 2011 following which he allegedly fled to Canada. He now runs his network from there.

A senior official claimed that after the crackdown on the Nicaragua ‘donkey route’, members of the Pali syndicate were scouting for new ways to enter Europe and America and had also made trips to Serbia.

The term donkey route describes a complex and risky journey taken by illegal migrants to reach western countries.

Pali first attracted attention in 2011 when 105 passports were found in “unclaimed” bags at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi. Of the 105 passports, 84 were issued in Ahmedabad and the remainder in Jalandhar. An investigation led to a Gujarati man in the US, who had links with Pali. The Gujarati man was arrested a year later by the Delhi Police.

Although Pali was once detained, he relocated to Canada where he was believed to be playing a major role in a human trafficking network, said the sources.