Patel was deported from the US after serving seven month’s imprisonment on charges of travelling on a stolen passport.

Sources said the travel agent runs one of his agencies in

Ahmedabad and is known for sending people abroad on work-permit visas.

The police are also exploring the links between the travel agent and Gurjinder Singh alias Lucky, kingpin of the human trafficking racket and passport theft case.

“We will seek help of the Gujarat Police and will try find how many people have been sent abroad by the travel agent on stolen passports. Inder claimed that as he was the only one detained by the authorities in the US, he does not know about how many people have been sent abroad on forged documents,” a police officer said.

The police had sought help from the Italian authorities four months ago, asking for details of persons who had used stolen passports to migrate to the country.