Gandhinagar (Gujarat) [India], May 21 (ANI): In a massive statewide search drive named 'Operation Milap', Gujarat Police traced 701 missing persons, including women and children, within just 14 days of the campaign launched earlier this month under Gujarat Director General of Police (DGP) K L N Rao.

According to a release, the special operation, launched in the first week of May, has directed every police commissioner and district superintendent of police in Gujarat to reopen, review and aggressively pursue long-pending missing person cases.

According to the Gujarat Police, more than 24,767 people have been reported missing across the state since 2007.

'Under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupendrabhai Patel, the Gujarat Police has launched a special drive to trace missing persons. All necessary resources have been made available to the police for this purpose. The success of the campaign is reflected in the fact that police stations across the state traced a total of 701 people between May 7 and May 21 and reunited them with their families,' Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi said about 'Operation Milap', as per the release.

With Operation Milap, police teams are now revisiting forgotten files, tracking digital footprints, analysing old evidence and reaching out once again to families that had spent years searching for answers.

'This is a targeted operation backed by data, technical intelligence and human intelligence with clear guidelines. We are getting success in tracing people who had gone missing even many years ago,' said Ajay Choudhary, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), CID Crime and Railways.

Police officials said the operation goes beyond merely locating missing persons. Investigators are also trying to expose trafficking syndicates, runaway networks and criminal gangs allegedly involved in child trafficking and baby-selling rackets.

Recent investigations by Gujarat Police have uncovered trafficking modules, including gangs allegedly selling newborn babies to childless couples.

According to the release, one of the most striking cases solved during the operation involved a woman who had been missing for nearly 10 years.

A 23-year-old married woman from Padra taluka in Vadodara district had disappeared in 2016 along with her five-year-old son. Her husband had informed police that she had left for her maternal home but never returned.

During the renewed investigation under Operation Milap, police once again contacted family members. Her husband revealed that he had recently seen his wife on social media.

Police then scanned social media platforms and discovered that the woman was now living in Rajkot with another husband and running a Garba class.

Her son, who had disappeared with her as a child, is now 15 years old, as per the release.

Investigators later found that she had left her husband following domestic disputes and remarried in 2016.

Police officials say such cases highlight the complex human stories behind disappearances.

'There are many reasons behind disappearances, family disputes, marital discord, exam stress, failed relationships, economic hardship and criminal exploitation,' a senior police official said.

To strengthen investigations, the Gujarat Police have issued a detailed 15-point Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to all police stations.

The SOP includes reopening case files, contacting complainants, analysing digital and technical evidence, tracking social media activity, checking transport hubs and shelter homes, conducting field visits and questioning suspected traffickers and repeat offenders.

Police officers have also been instructed to place missing persons' mobile phones under electronic surveillance, track last active locations and examine social media activity on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. (ANI)