Catch ‘Big Fish’ Behind Smuggling, Says FM Sitharaman

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) to go after the “big fish" behind smuggling drugs into the country and to use data and artificial intelligence to map gold smuggling. At an event held in the capital to mark the founding day of the DRI, the minister said she had been closely monitoring the detection of smuggling in India, particularly of drugs and gold. Sitharaman told officials that whenever there is a surge in gold imports into the country, gold smuggling also goes up. The minister said that for DRI to gain public confidence, it is important to nab the big fish rather than capturing small consignments of smuggled items.