SURAT, April 26: In a massive pre-dawn crackdown, more than 400 illegal immigrants were arrested in Ahmedabad and over 100 in Surat between Friday night and Saturday morning. The operation, conducted by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch in collaboration with teams from the SOG, EOW, Zone 6, and Headquarters, primarily targeted Bangladeshi nationals suspected of possessing fake documents.

The operation in Ahmedabad began at 3 a.m. on Saturday and resulted in the detention of over 400 suspected illegal immigrants. Ahmedabad Crime Branch Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP) Sharad Singhal told IANS that the crackdown was based on specific intelligence inputs received from the Minister of State for Home Affairs and the Director General of Police (DGP) regarding illegal immigrants residing near Chandola in Ahmedabad.

“As many as 457 infiltrators have been arrested, interrogation of all is going on, all will be deported,” JCP Singhal confirmed.

He also noted that two FIRs had previously been registered by the Crime Branch since April 2024, under which 127 Bangladeshi nationals were arrested and 77 of them deported. “Earlier, 127 Bangladeshi infiltrators were arrested by filing two FIRs, 70 have been deported, and the rest of the proceedings are underway,” he added.

Authorities revealed that all those detained possessed fake Indian citizenship documents. “All of them have fake documents of Indian citizenship, on what basis and with whose help the documents were made we will find out. They will be deported after investigation,” JCP Singhal stated, adding that the deportation process would commence after interrogation and legal formalities are completed.

Meanwhile, in Surat, police carried out a widespread operation across six different police station areas—Udhana, Katargam, Mahidharpura, Pandesara, Salabatpur, and Limbayat. Over 100 Bangladeshi citizens were detained in this parallel crackdown.

The individuals detained in Surat had reportedly been living in the city for years using forged documents and were engaged in various occupations. The Surat police operation, which began late Friday night, remains ongoing. Multiple police teams are continuing to interrogate the detainees to determine how they acquired fake documents and how long they had been residing in the city undetected.