Led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Kamal Kumar Ojha, the team combed 250-odd villages in Orissa in search of wanted criminals and stolen vehicles. They picked up 18 of the 86 criminals they'd set out for; most were wanted for murder, rape, abduction and similar serious crime.

Others in the wanted list, the police said, could not be picked up either because their names and addresses were false, or because they were serving sentences in Orissa jails.

``Soon after we arrived, the local papers picked up the news, which gave criminals the chance to escape'', Ojha told Express Newsline. ``But we set up an informer network and visited up to five villages in search of a single person.''

The Surat team made special mention of Chhatrapur SP Yogesh Khurasia and ASI Ravi Satpathi, who worked with them as translator, interpreter and investigator. ``Otherwise we could have done very little, as none of us were fluent with the local language or terrain'', Ojha said.

``Our work began with sundown, as our best chance was to catch the criminals napping, literally'', the DCP said. ``The force was divided into six teams. After a joint briefing session late in the evening, they set out on errands and returned early the next morning for a debriefing session."