Operation Delta in Ahmedabad has resulted in the identification of 166 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants among more than 300 detainees (Photo: Screengrab).The Ahmedabad police confirmed Wednesday that they had identified at least 166 illegal immigrants from Bangladesh in Gujarat’s largest city. This marks the most significant action taken against illegal immigrants since last year.These 166 people, whose deportation procedures have been initiated, were among the 300-odd people detained by the Ahmedabad police on the intervening night of June 2 and 3 as part of Operation Delta, which was carried out across Gujarat. Deputy CM Harsh Sanghavi is likely to update these figures for the state by the end of the day.Notably, a total of 465 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants were deported from Ahmedabad city in 2025.On Wednesday, the detailed people were seen seated in the football ground of Gaekwad Haveli, which is the headquarters of the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) in Ahmedabad. Teams from the Crime Branch, Economic Offences Wing, Cybercrime, and Special Operations Group, as well as 10 teams from local police stations, were involved in the operation in Ahmedabad city.Commissioner of Police G S Malik said, “Under instructions of the Deputy CM, different teams of police were formed and spread out across the city. With human intelligence and technical inputs, we obtained details about where these people were staying. We rounded up 300 people and have confirmed 166 as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, including 95 women, 30 children and 41 men. Verification of others is underway.”Malik further said, “The women were working in spas and in prostitution while the men worked as labourers. The priority is to identify the illegal immigrants and other investigations will take place later on. Most of them have been living here from eight months to two years.”In Ahmedabad city, Operation Delta was carried out under the supervision of JCP Sharad Singhal. He said, “We rounded up more than 300 people and have established the identity of 166 people as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Most of them were picked up from Danilimda, Narol, Naroda, Sola, Juhapura, Sarkhej, Odhav, and Pirana areas of the city. Based on guidelines by the Government of India, we will upload their details to the portal and begin procedures to report them.”Story continues below this adOn forged Indian identity documents, JCP Singhal said, “We have found Indian Aadhaar cards, but upon cross-checking many of them, they turned out to be fake. Many have documents from West Bengal. We are investigating the role of traffickers as well.”