Sitharaman to address revenue intelligence officers on Monday

PTI, Dec 4, 2022, 11:45 AM IST

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will on Monday address Revenue Intelligence officers at the DRI foundation day event in the national capital.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) is celebrating its 65th Founding Day on December 5-6 this year, a finance ministry statement said on Sunday.

A meeting of the ‘Regional Customs Enforcement Meeting (RCEM)’ for effectively engaging with partner Customs organisations and international agencies like World Customs Organisation (WCO), Interpol for enforcement related issues would also be organised during the event.

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

Sitharaman will inaugurate the 2-day event along with Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, the statement said.

The ‘Smuggling in India Report 2021-22’ would be released by Sitharaman 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, it added.

DRI is the intelligence and enforcement agency on anti-smuggling matters under the aegis of Central Board of Indirect taxes & Customs (CBIC).

DRI came into existence on December 4, 1957 and is headquartered at New Delhi. It has 12 zonal units, 35 regional units and 15 sub-regional units, with a working strength of about 800 officials.