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The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) conducted a week of pan-India operations, seizing foreign-origin gold, narcotics, red sanders, wildlife products and e-cigarettes, and arresting 20 persons including 5 foreign nationals.
Key seizures: ~9.5 kg gold (₹14 crore) across multiple ports/borders, 142 red sanders logs (4.8 MT) near Chennai, 2.7 kg heroin from Myanmar-origin trafficking in Manipur, and 9,230 prohibited e-cigarettes at Nhava Sheva Port.
A 14-tonne consignment of CITES-listed, endangered Guggul resin was intercepted after being falsely declared as Somalia-origin to bypass the ban on Pakistan-origin imports.
India's premier anti-smuggling intelligence and enforcement agency, targeting organised smuggling and trafficking networks
Primary statute under which smuggled/mis-declared goods (poppy seeds, areca nuts, gold) are seized
Governs seizure and arrest for narcotic/psychotropic drug offences (heroin, MDMA, amphetamine, hydroponic weed)
Covers red sanders as a protected species (Schedule IV)
Bans production, import and sale of e-cigarettes in India
Both red sanders and Guggul resin are listed in Appendix II, regulating their international trade
Red Sanders is a tree species endemic to the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh (Seshachalam, Palakonda and Lankamalla hill tracts), prized internationally for its wood. It is listed in Schedule IV of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and in Appendix II of CITES, and was reclassified as 'Endangered' on the IUCN Red List in 2021 due to persistent illegal logging.
Simple Analogy: Like sandalwood, Red Sanders is valuable enough that its legal protection exists specifically to choke off an illegal export trade, not just to conserve the species locally.
GS Paper 3 > Internal Security > Smuggling; GS Paper 3 > Environment > Wildlife Trafficking
Recurring — DRI publishes similar operation summaries periodically
Directorate of Revenue Intelligence — India's apex anti-smuggling agency under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Ministry of Finance, established in 1957