Overview
- Senior BSF officers report a sustained surge to the three-digit range each day—often 100 to 200-plus—while cautioning that some higher local estimates are exaggerated.
- Hundreds have gathered at the Hakimpur/Swarupnagar checkpost in North 24 Parganas in recent days, reflecting a broader rise across unfenced riverine stretches.
- Intercepted individuals undergo biometric recording, questioning and database checks, with suspects handed to state police and others returned in batches after BGB coordination; most lack valid travel papers.
- Multiple ground reports include accounts of migrants who lived for years in Kolkata’s suburbs and in some cases obtained Aadhaar or voter cards and even voted, complicating verification.
- Officials describe logistical strain on border units and police, and local residents at Hakimpur protested what they called misleading media coverage, adding to tensions around the operation.