105 migrants head home in container

Anand police had received information of a 'suspicious' truck that would attempt to cross the district, but they were clearly not prepared for what they discovered. There were over 100 persons-men, women and children-huddled together in the container that the truck was carrying.

Upon investigation, they found that the 105 peopled inside the container were travelling from Rajkot to Prayagraj (Allahabad) in Uttar Pradesh.

The distance between the two cities by road is approximately 1,500 km by road. The truck, after dodging cops at a check post earlier, was intercepted in Umreth in Anand district on Wednesday afternoon.

According to Anand SP Ajit Rajian, the police team at the check post at Samarkha on Anand border got suspicious when the container truck took a U-turn. There was intensive checking happening at the Samarkha check post at that time. The personnel on duty alerted others on the route ahead.

"They then attempted to get in through Kheda, but the police were already alert because of the communication. The truck had to cross Anand and reach Vadodara from where they take a hilly terrain to go unnoticed," Rajian told Mirror. After speeding away from Samarkha, the truck attempted to enter Anand through Bhalej in Umreth where it was intercepted. There was a sticker that read 'Emergency Duty for Medical Supply under Essential Commodities Act' on its windshield.

The 105 included nine children, 40 women and 56 men in the small container.

An offence has been registered against the driver of the truck, Amrutlal Yadav, and the owner who is from Rajkot. The driver has been arrested while the owner will be arrested soon.

Gujarat DGP Shivanand Jha said the police will take stern action against persons who misuse passes issued for essential supplies or attempt to cross districts and state using fake passes. The truck was seized. "We have sent the migrants back to Rajkot," Rajian said.