Ensure better coordination with State agenciesto nab masterminds: Nirmala to DRI officers

 

 

FINANCE Minister Nirmala Sitharaman onTuesday asked revenue intelligence officers todevelopbettercoordination with State and Central agencies and expeditiously work on“actionableintelligence”to nab masterminds behind smuggling syndicates. Stressing that narcotics has become the “biggest threat” and schools and colleges are the “first victims” of drug abuse, Sitharaman said it is to be stopped by the DRI and thencoordinatedwiththestate police. “We need to have greater coordination and greater understanding of the size as well as scope of the threat,” she added. Sitharaman also asked the DRI officers to investigate “holistically” keeping the big picture infocusandnotmerely chase“isolatedinfractions”.

 

“Leverageallavailableinformation and data on an entity, on an individual, and their behaviouralpatternstouncover deeper systemic risks and threats by connecting latent dots. The goal must be to dismantle entire network and the syndicate, notjustto intercept fragments,” Sitharaman told enforcementofficersafterinauguratingthenewheadquarters building of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). She also said that DRI needs tohave“greaterawarenessand more actionable intelligence” and enforcement agencies should be “smart enough” to decide on which information is actionable and which has to be taken up immediately from the dump of data which they receive.

 

“So, there is that area whichIwouldstill callasagrey area,” she said. Asking the DRI officers to go after masterminds of crime, she said “no good if you catch thesmallfish...Thebiggerones are the ones who are not being touchedbymanyofouractions. We need to have the entire smuggling chain, entire nefarious operation chain, tracked and acted upon.It’s not easy ... But we should show some tangible results on it.” Last year, DRI seized 1,382 kg of gold in multiple operations in which key members of syndicates have been arrested and networks busted.