Directorate of Revenue Intelligence

Why is in news? DRI to celebrate 65th Founding Day tomorrow

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) is celebrating its 65th Founding Day on 5th-6th December, 2022 this year.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence is the premier intelligence and enforcement agency in anti-smuggling matters in India, working under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs, Ministry of Finance.

It came into existence on 4th December 1957.

The DRI with its Headquarters at New Delhi has 12 Zonal Units, 35 regional Units and 15 Sub-regional units, with a working strength of about 800 officials.

It is headed by a Director General of the rank of Special Secretary to the Government of India.

It is tasked with detecting and curbing smuggling of contraband, including drug trafficking and illicit international trade in wildlife and environmentally sensitive items, as well as combating commercial frauds related to international trade and evasion of Customs duty.

Moreover, it also works to prevent the proliferation of black money, trade based money laundering and commercial frauds.

For more than six decades, DRI with its presence across India and abroad has been carrying out its mandate of preventing and detecting cases of smuggling of narcotic drugs & psychotropic substances, gold, diamonds, precious metals, wildlife items, cigarettes, arms, ammunitions & explosives, counterfeit currency notes, foreign currency, SCOMET items, hazardous & environmentally sensitive materials, antiques etc. and taking punitive action against the organised crime groups engaged therein.

Accordingly, DRI takes the opportunity of its founding day to organise Regional Customs Enforcement Meeting (RCEM) for effectively engaging with partner Customs organisations and International agencies like World Customs Organisation, INTERPOL for enforcement related issues.

This year, 22 Customs administrations covering the Asia-Pacific region along with international organisations such as World Customs Organisation (WCO), Interpol, UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Regional Intelligence Liaison Office – Asia Pacific (RILO AP) have been invited to the event.

The current edition of “Smuggling in India Report 2021-22” will be released by Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister on this occasion. The report brings together the trends in the field of anti- smuggling and commercial fraud and DRI’s performance and experience over the last financial year.

The DRI day serves as a day for honouring and recognizing the achievements of the past, a day of motivation for the young officers of the CBIC and the DRI and also offers an opportunity to interact and deliberate with the Custom Administrations of regional countries and important regional trading partners, thus reinforcing India’s role in Custom related matters in the region.