Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday tasked enforcement agencies such as the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) with catching the ‘big fish’ in drug trafficking cases. This remark comes in the backdrop of huge quantities of drugs being caught at ports in Gujarat in recent months. Last week, 143 kg of drugs valued at about Rs 478 crore was unearthed in the poll-bound state.

“There is a need for us to work hard to make sure investigations do not end the fellow caught with a small sachet or a kg of cocaine, but the person sending mountains of it into this country, the person funding the operation, the person following the trail and making it all possible. We need to have agreements with bilateral agencies and greater global coordination for intelligence sharing in order to achieve this,” she said while addressing a DRI annual day event here.

The Minister said revenue intelligence officers should strive to bring each case to its logical conclusion at the earliest, as smugglers follow a certain modus operandi that should be used to reach the main handlers . Also, she urged them to adopt smart technology. “You should make sure that the smuggler is not smarter than you,” she said.

The Minister released an annual report on smuggling on the occasion. She noted that whenever there is an increase in import of gold, the period immediately before or after that has seen a surge in smuggling. For example, while imports increased in August and October in FY22, seizures of gold went up to 91.49 kg in September from 26.18 kg in August, and 114.43 kg in November from 90.25 kg in October. India is the world’s second-largest consumer of gold after China. India’s gold imports were worth $34.62 billion in 2020-21 and rose by 33.34 per cent to $46.14 billion during 2021-22.

Although Switzerland is the biggest source of illicit gold bullion entering India, gold has been smuggled from West Asia through air routes for long. However, the alertness of Indian law enforcement agencies has compelled the gold smuggling syndicates to adopt new strategies. Increased surveillance at International airports has forced a shift to the land route through the China-Myanmar-India borders, it added.

The report highlighted that over 28,000 kg of narcotics were seized in FY22. In September 2021, specific intelligence was developed by the DRI that an import consignment declared to contain semi-processed Talc stones originating from Afghanistan and shipped from Bandar Abbas Port, Iran to Mundra Port, Gujarat was suspected to contain narcotics drugs. An examination of the consignment in two containers led to a total haul of around 3,000 kg of narcotics.

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