Ensure better coordination with state enforcement agencies, nab masterminds: Sitharaman to DRI officers

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday asked revenue intelligence officers to develop better coordination with state law enforcing agencies and ''greater alertness and actionable intelligence'' to nab masterminds behind smuggling syndicates.

Inaugurating the new headquarters building of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), she also said that narcotics is the biggest threat as it is coming into every state and even small towns, and asked for better inter-agency coordination for taking faster actions on the huge pile of intelligence data.

''Investigate holistically keeping the big picture in focus, not merely to chase isolated infractions. Leverage all available information and data on an entity, on an individual, and their behavioural patterns to uncover deeper systemic risks and threats by connecting latent dots.

''The goal must be to dismantle entire network and the syndicate, not just to intercept fragments,'' Sitharaman said.

Asking the DRI officers to go after masterminds of crime, she said ''no good if you catch the small fish of fry. The bigger ones are the ones who are not being touched by many of our actions. 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,'' the minister said.

She also said that there should be a ''more meaningful way'' by which enforcement officers can act on the cache of data and intelligence inputs received by them, and better inter-agency coordination can help in optimising the time and effort to crack down on masterminds behind economic offences.

''It is important for agencies to be smart enough to see which (data) has got to be actionable and which has to be immediately taken up. So, there is that area which I would still call as a gray area,'' Sitharaman said.

Red-flagging that schools and colleges are being targeted by drug traffickers, the minister said DRI is at the frontiers to stop them from entering the country. But, it has to also coordinate with the state police officials or state law enforcement agencies to make them understand the ''gravity of the situation''.

''Do they act on it? It is that is the other side of action on which a lot more thought and discussion should happen. Coordination with state law enforcing agencies is the grey area I see that today. Even if you're able to stop such nefarious activities, the end result on the ground takes its own traction, and that has to be expedited,'' Sitharaman said.

The minister also said that use of modern technology will have to be more deeply integrated into the system, besides forging stronger international partnerships.

Sitharaman also highlighted three points for effective enforcement. She said rules must be applied fairly, and consistently, and frauds must be caught swiftly.

''Do not view enforcement and facilitation as opposing ends of the spectrum. Robust intelligence framework that detects fraud is essential, not just to catch wrongdoers, but to create a level-playing field for the honest trade,'' she said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)