Operation Deep Manifest, Key Features and Significance

Operation Deep Manifest is a strategic initiative launched by Indian authorities to combat drug trafficking through maritime routes, focusing on enhanced surveillance, intelligence gathering, and coordinated enforcement actions.

Table of Contents

Context: Under ‘Operation Deep Manifest’, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized goods of Pakistani origin valued at ₹9 crore.

About Operation Deep Manifest

A targeted enforcement operation by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).
Aimed at detecting and dismantling illicit trade routes used to smuggle banned Pakistani-origin goods into India.

Launched By

Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI)
Under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Ministry of Finance.

Objective

To enforce India’s comprehensive import ban on goods from Pakistan.
To prevent economic infiltration through third-country transhipment routes.

Key Features

Container Surveillance:
- Intercepted 39 containers carrying 1,115 metric tonnes of goods falsely declared as UAE-origin.
Document Forensics:
- Investigated shipping records and uncovered false declarations, container swaps, and dual-port routing via Dubai’s Jebel Ali Port.
Financial Intelligence:
- Traced fund flows linked to Pakistani entities and their collaborators in the UAE.
Enforcement Outcome:
- Arrested a key partner of an importing firm.
- Launched wider criminal and financial investigations.

Significance of Operation Deep Manifest

Safeguards national economic security by disrupting hostile trade networks.
Reflects India’s zero-tolerance stance post-terror incidents.
Demonstrates DRI’s capability in leveraging data analytics and AI-driven customs enforcement.
Acts as a deterrent against third-country re-routing, a common method to bypass trade restrictions.