33 Gujarati immigrants, deported from US, land in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad: A plane carrying 33 persons from Gujarat, who were among 104 Indians deported from the US for illegal immigration, landed at Ahmedabad airport from Amritsar on Thursday morning, officials said.

Soon after their arrival, the 33 immigrants, including some children and women, were transported to their native places in Gujarat in police vehicles, Assistant Commissioner of Police, 'G' division, R D Oza said.

"A plane carrying 33 Gujarati immigrants, including children and women, landed at the airport from Amritsar in the morning. They were among those who were deported from the US. We deployed police vehicles at the airport to transport them to their respective places," Oza told reporters at the airport.

While mediapersons tried to talk to the deported immigrants, they refused to say anything and left for their native places in the police vehicles.

Majority of them are from Mehsana, Gandhinagar, Patan, Vadodara and Kheda districts, sources said.

A US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal Indian immigrants, including 33 from Gujarat, landed at Amritsar in Punjab on Wednesday.

Family members of these illegal immigrants from Gujarat have claimed they do not know how their kin reached the foreign soil.

Former state Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel had expressed sympathy for the deported Gujaratis, underlining the fact that they had gone to the foreign country looking for a job or career, and they should not be portrayed as criminals.

Deputy Inspector General of Police, CID-Crime, Parikshita Rathod said the police will not question the deportees at this stage.