Overview
- India's Border Security Force is studying a plan to use snakes and crocodiles as a “biological” barrier along about 175 km of unfenced rivers and mangroves.
- An internal BSF instruction, reported as following directives from Home Minister Amit Shah, tells field units to examine how such releases would work in vulnerable river gaps.
- Officials frame the idea as a supplement to surveillance tools like drones and heat sensors, and there is no confirmed deployment yet.
- Residents and fishers in the Sundarbans warn that added predators could endanger boat travel and nets and cut into daily income.
- Analysts flag ecological and diplomatic risks as India and Bangladesh try to steady ties after Bangladesh’s 2024 crisis, including a recent visit to New Delhi by Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman.