DRI Busts Pakistan Rock Salt Racket in Operation Deep Manifest

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has uncovered a scheme built to get around India's ban on goods coming from Pakistan. The case, named Operation Deep Manifest, was made public on 14 October 2026. DRI found that 295 containers carrying 7,311 metric tonnes of Pakistan-origin industrial or Himalayan rock salt, worth about Rs 30 crore in the market, had entered the country. The quantity works out to more than 73,00,000 kg.

How the consignments were disguised

The salt did not come in directly. It was sent through Colombo Port in Sri Lanka and then shipped on to India, with certificates of origin and invoices made out by firms based in the United Arab Emirates so that the cargo would look as if it came from somewhere other than Pakistan. The certificates of origin filed by the importers turned out to be fabricated. What gave the game away was the paper trail of the earlier leg: the bills of lading for the Pakistan to Sri Lanka stretch, and the customs declarations filed with Sri Lanka Customs, named Pakistan as the country of origin and India as the final destination.

The operation and the seizures

• The coordinated action ran for a fortnight, between 26 September and 11 October 2026, acting on specific intelligence.
• Searches were carried out at Gandhidham, Adipur, Veraval, Panipat, Pune, Patiala, Delhi and Mumbai.
• Nine importers had brought the 295 containers in through Mundra and Kandla ports since March 2026.
• Five containers holding 140 metric tonnes of the salt, valued at Rs 24.41 lakh, were seized at Kandla Port.
• Sale proceeds of Rs 20.96 lakh lying in the importers' bank accounts were also seized.

The network and the arrests

The early stage of the investigation points to a transnational chain of firms owned by Pakistani, Emirati, Sri Lankan and Indian nationals, which arranged both the shipments and the papers that hid their origin. Invoices issued by Dubai-based firms were used to back the deals. Four persons were arrested under the Customs Act, 1962: two proprietors or partners of importing firms, a customs broker's G-card holder, and the owner of a Dubai-based supplier who had also set up an importing firm in his father's name.

Why the import is barred

After the Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025, the government shut the door completely on the direct or indirect import or transit of any goods originating in or exported from Pakistan, citing national security and public policy. The bar was imposed through DGFT Notification No. 06/2025-26 dated 2 May 2025. A month before this case, DRI had seized over 362,000 kg of Pakistan-origin dry dates packed in 13 containers, imported by a Mumbai firm, at CFS Ambad in Nashik.