Sitharaman tells DRI to break big smuggling syndicates, curb narcotics trade

New Delhi, June 3 (IANS) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday asked the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) to adopt a holistic and technology-driven approach to tackle smuggling and the narcotics trade amid the increasingly complex geopolitical environment and security threats.

In her address at the inaugural event of the DRI’s new headquarters here, the Finance Minister said there was a need to go beyond surface-level enforcement and expose deeper systemic threats.

"Investigate holistically, keeping the big picture in mind, leverage all available resources to uncover deeper systemic risks and threads by connecting the dots," she said.

She emphasised that dismantling entire smuggling syndicates must be the end-goal of any investigation, which must not stop at peripheral seizures.

"It’s no good if you catch the small fish. The bigger smuggling chain has to be tracked and acted upon. We must take down those nefarious chains," she added.

Sitharaman identified narcotics as the most serious national threat and called for urgent coordination with state law enforcement agencies to prevent schools and colleges from being targeted by drug traffickers.

She also underlined the importance of internal collaboration: “Internal coordination, when well managed, makes outcomes better.

The Finance Minister cited PM Modi’s ‘Reform, perform and transform’ mantra as the spirit with which the enforcement agencies move forward.

She spelt out three guiding principles for the agency’s approach: the rules must be applied fairly, public confidence in the trade system must be maintained, and enforcement must be intelligent and high-impact.

"Value- and trust-based compliance is important, not fear-induced compliance," Sitharaman pointed out.

She highlighted the need for deeper and faster integration of modern technology into enforcement frameworks. "There’s a lot of talk around AI, but I now want to see concrete output using AI,” she said, pressing for data-driven, intelligence-led action. "More modern technology use needs to be deeply and well integrated into the system - data analytics and so on," she added.

--IANS

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