Gandhinagar, June 3: Gujarat police have apprehended 362 illegal Bangladeshi migrants from across the state and another 780 suspects are being probed, officials said on Wednesday.
The crackdown under ‘Operation Delta Hunt’ was meticulously planned and covered all parts of the state, Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi told reporters here.
“In total, investigations are being conducted into the backgrounds of over 6,200 individuals. Of these, 362 have so far been identified as (illegal) Bangladeshi nationals, and the investigations will continue in the days to come,” he said.
A dedicated team of police is also conducting a probe against the persons who provided accommodation to these migrants or hired them without the mandatory police verification, Sanghavi said.
Police teams worked tirelessly for the last more than 72 hours, employing a comprehensive strategy that utilized technical surveillance as well as human intelligence to find illegal migrants, the minister said.
A majority of illegal Bangladeshi nationals were engaged in manual labor with the highest concentrations found in Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara and Bharuch, he said.
As per Ahmedabad police, 300 such individuals were rounded up in the city and 66 of them have been so far confirmed to be illegal migrants.
“An operation was also conducted in Dang district where five suspicious individuals were apprehended. No corner of Gujarat was left untouched,” Sanghavi said.
While the police conducted raids, vigilance was maintained at railway stations, bus terminals and along highways and district borders. At least 18 persons were apprehended while trying to flee Gujarat, said Sanghavi.
“This was a meticulously planned operation. As the investigations proceed, the number of illegal migrants is expected to rise significantly,” the minister said.
Police will also continue door-to-door and village-to-village operations, aiming to repatriate every single Bangladeshi national living illegally in the state back to their home country, he added. (PTI)
