In a significant crackdown on India's efforts to circumvent the ban on imports from Pakistan, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized over 362 metric tonnes of dried khareek of Pakistani origin.
Acting on specific information, DRI officials intercepted 13 containers of dried Kharek imported by a Mumbai based firm at CFS Ambad, Nashik. The goods came from Jebel Ali, UAE, with UAE as the country of origin shown in the import documents.
Preliminary investigation has revealed that a carefully arranged transshipment arrangement was made to hide the Pakistani origin of the goods. Suki Kharek was initially shipped from Karachi Port, Pakistan to Jebel Ali Port, UAE in a set of containers on a ship. At Jebel Ali, the cargo was simply transshipped and transferred to another set of containers and loaded onto another ship for onward shipment to India by entities run by Pakistani nationals.
Following the Pahalgam terrorist attack, the Government of India, in the interest of national security, issued DGFT Notification no. 06/2025-26 dated May 2, 2025, a complete ban was imposed on direct or indirect import or transit of all goods produced in or exported from Pakistan, with effect from May 2, 2025. In response, DRI, under “Operation Deep Manifest”, is continuously identifying, intercepting and seizing goods of Pakistani origin attempting to be imported into India through third country routing.
This seizure underlines DRI's continued resolve to identify, disrupt and dismantle sophisticated networks seeking to circumvent trade sanctions through misdeclaration, transshipment and document manipulation, thereby protecting national security and improving supply chain integrity.