Gandhinagar, June 3 (IANS) Gujarat Police have detained 362 Bangladeshi nationals allegedly residing illegally in India and are questioning more than 782 other suspected individuals as part of a statewide crackdown named ‘Operation Delta Hunt’, Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi said on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference, Sanghavi said the operation was launched using technical surveillance, telecom analysis and human intelligence, with more than 6,200 suspicious individuals screened across the state.

“After examining data, documents and other details, 362 people have been confirmed as Bangladeshi nationals. The investigation of more than 780 others is still underway and will continue,” he said.

According to an official, those detained include 103 men, 188 women and 71 children.

Ahmedabad city accounted for the largest number of apprehensions with 155 people detained, followed by Surat city with 84.

Authorities also detained 34 individuals from Ahmedabad Rural, 13 from East Kutch-Gandhidham and 12 from Bharuch, while operations were conducted in several other districts.

Sanghavi described the action as a significant operation carried out simultaneously across Gujarat.

“This is a historic success for Gujarat Police in apprehending such a large number of Bangladeshis in a single night,” he said, congratulating police personnel involved in the exercise.

He said the operation would continue across all regions of Gujarat and that authorities would identify and act against every person found to be residing illegally in the state.

Director General of Police (DGP) K. L. N. Rao said the exercise was based on technical data and field verification. He said extensive telecom analysis was conducted using inputs from the Cyber Centre of Excellence and local intelligence networks.

“A database of Indian mobile numbers that had communicated with Bangladeshi numbers was prepared. Through this process, a database of more than 6,200 suspected Bangladeshis was compiled, and ground operations were launched,” Rao said.

Sanghavi said investigations had also revealed cases in which some of those detained allegedly entered India several years ago through different parts of West Bengal and later obtained local documents that were used to secure official identity papers.

Police said all apprehended individuals had been detained in accordance with legal procedures and that further verification and deportation-related processes would be undertaken as per the law.

–IANS

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