74 ‘illegal Bangladesh immigrants’ detained in Surat, Valsad Navsari under special drive

The process of verification of their documents to ascertain if they are Bangladeshi immigrants is underway.

Surat rural police also had on Saturday and Sunday carried out a drive with a 12-member team in eight police station areas in the district. The officers had identified 245 suspected Bangladeshi immigrants and after verification of their documents and other details, they had confirmed that 59 of them were Bangladeshi nationals. The areas covered in the drive were Bardoli, Palsana Kadodara, Kamrej, Kim, Kosamba, Olpad, and Mandvi — and the highest number (55) of suspected Bangladeshi immigrants were found in Palsana, an well-developed area in terms of industries.

Surat Superintendent of Police, Hitesh Joyser, said, “The verification of others are still in progress. The figures may go up, but so far 59 people have been confirmed Bangladeshis — 27 women, 13 children and 19 men. We have detained them and kept them in different police stations and have started the procedures.”

Police teams in Navsari and Valsad also cracked down on the alleged illegal foreign immigrants on Saturday and Sunday. Navsari police had rounded up 639 suspected Bangladeshi immigrants and after document verification, officials confirmed that eight of were illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. All eight were detained.

Valsad police had rounded up 800 suspected such people, seven of them were later identified as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, and detained.

Surat Range IGP Prem Vir Singh said, “The document verification process is on and the numbers will go up in the coming days in Surat rural, Navsari and Valsad. At present, a total of 74 people have been identified as Bangladeshi nationals in Surat range. These people had entered India illegally and have been staying here since long. They were working in jewellery factories, involved in floor tiles fitting jobs or other petty works, or worked as electricians, plumbers, etc. We have laid down procedures to deport these illegal immigrants.”