Over 1,000 ‘Bangladeshis’ held in Gujarat during massive crackdown

More than 1,000 Bangladeshi nationals have been arrested from India’s western coastal state of Gujarat during a massive overnight operation conducted jointly by security forces in Ahmedabad and Surat.

Gujarat’s Minister of State for Home Affairs, Harsh Sanghavi, confirmed the arrests on Saturday, according to a report by India’s state-run news agency Press Trust of India (PTI).

According to the report, at least 890 Bangladeshis were arrested from Ahmedabad and 134 from Surat. Minister Harsh Sanghavi described it as the largest operation ever carried out against illegal immigrants in the state’s history.

The Gujarat minister directed all illegal immigrants living in the state to surrender to the police. He warned that those who continue to reside illegally would be arrested and deported to their home countries. Additionally, legal action would be taken against individuals found sheltering illegal immigrants.

Speaking to journalists after a video conference meeting with senior state police officials, Sanghavi said, “The Gujarat Police have achieved a historic success by arresting illegal Bangladeshis. Ahmedabad Police arrested 890 individuals, while Surat Police arrested 134. This marks the largest operation by Gujarat Police against illegal immigrants residing in the state.”

He further explained that before arriving in Gujarat, many of the arrested Bangladeshis had stayed in various other parts of India using forged documents. Sanghavi revealed that among those detained, several were found to be involved in drug trafficking and human smuggling. He mentioned a concerning discovery that two of the four recently arrested Bangladeshis had links to Al-Qaeda sleeper cells. Authorities will conduct detailed investigations into the activities of these individuals in Gujarat.

The minister stated that steps would soon be taken to repatriate the arrested Bangladeshis to their home country. He also emphasized that investigations would continue into the forged documents used by the illegal immigrants and that strict action would be taken against those who helped create those fake documents.