New Delhi: The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has asked its field officers to step up vigilance in order to check illegal movement of currency, liquor and gold in the run up to general elections beginning April 11. It has also asked the tax officers to share intelligence and seizure information with other government agencies on real-time basis.
The CBIC’s instructions follow a multi-departmental meeting called by the Election Commission (ECI) earlier in the month on sharing of intelligence with a view to checking illegal activities.
In its instructions, the CBIC said, “All efforts should be made to detect and seize illicit currency, liquor, gold, FICN (Fake Indian Currency Note), NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances), and other contraband items. Strict vigil should be maintained on domestic as well as cross border movement of vehicles, trains, and private chartered flights as well as commercial flights.”
The body also said the field formations and officers should be duly sensitised to step up the preventive vigilance mechanism to rule out illicit movement of currency and commodities and conduct effective checking and surveillance during the election period to curb illegal activities.
“Intelligence units under your jurisdiction may be directed to gather information and develop intelligence to effectively accomplish this task. Mobile squads and special teams may be constituted to target sensitive areas, commodities and suspicious entities,” the CBIC stated while adding that information should be shared with the board on a daily basis. It also asserted that the officers should have close coordination with election authorities.
The ECI in its multi-departmental meeting had underlined the need for greater coordination among different government agencies to keep a tab on expenditure incurred by candidates and political parties.
PTI
