A Punjab-based immigration agent Brijesh Mishra, who duped more than 700 Indian students by allegedly preparing fake college admission offer letters and bringing them at risk of deportation, has been arrested by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) on charges of immigration-related offences, stated a The New Indian Express report.
Mishra, who owns an immigration agency called EMSA in Jalandhar, had gone missing just before this scam came to light. There were about 30 such students facing deportation proceedings and an additional 130 more cases that were being investigated due to the fake college admission letter scam. They arrived in Canada between 2017 and 2019 and started getting notices from CBSA in 2021 as the agency said that the letters were fake, said sources.
Sources said that Mishra was arrested when he attempted to enter the country and is being held by the Canadian authorities in British Columbia. Since he has been criminally charged, his custody has been transferred from the Canada Border Services Agency to the law enforcement agency.
The affected students had held demonstrations in Canada.
On June 23, the CBSA charged him under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) based on the evidence collected during the criminal investigation. These include unauthorised representation or advice for consideration, counselling misrepresentation, misrepresentation, communicating false information and non-compliance with the act.
Officials comment
Nina Patel, Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Canada Border Services Agency, said, "The charges announced by the CBSA's Pacific Region Criminal Investigations Section reflect our commitment to maintaining the integrity of Canada's immigration system. Our officers worked diligently to investigate these offences and we will continue to do our best to ensure those who break our laws are held accountable.'"
"Our government is taking action against those who are responsible for the fraud while protecting those who've come here to pursue their studies. I want to thank CBSA's criminal investigators for their hard work protecting Canadians and those who hope to come here,'' said Marco Mendicino, Minister of Public Safety.