India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has intercepted more than 362 metric tonnes of dry dates that investigators say originated in Pakistan and were funneled into the country through the United Arab Emirates — a fresh strike under the agency’s ongoing campaign against banned third-country routing.
Acting on specific intelligence, DRI officers stopped 13 containers imported by a Mumbai-based firm at Container Freight Station (CFS) Ambad in Nashik. The cargo had arrived from Jebel Ali, UAE. Paperwork accompanying the shipment listed the UAE as the country of origin.
A preliminary probe, according to the Ministry of Finance, points to a planned transshipment arrangement rather than a genuine change of origin. The dates were first loaded at Karachi Port, Pakistan, and sailed to Jebel Ali in one set of containers on one vessel. At the UAE port, the goods were transferred into a different set of containers and placed on another vessel bound for India. Officials say entities operated by Pakistani nationals handled the onward movement.
The seizure sits against a hard policy line. After the Pahalgam terror attack, New Delhi banned the direct or indirect import or transit of all goods originating in or exported from Pakistan from 2 May 2025, under DGFT Notification No. 06/2025-26. “Operation Deep Manifest” is DRI’s response: a sustained effort to find Pakistan-origin cargo that is re-papered, re-boxed, or re-routed through third countries.
Dry dates have featured in earlier Deep Manifest actions as well, including large seizures at major ports when consignments declared as UAE-origin were traced back to Karachi and Jebel Ali. The Nashik interception shows the same pattern — swap the boxes, change the vessel, keep the product moving — colliding with tighter scrutiny of manifests and origin claims.
DRI framed the latest haul as more than a customs catch. The agency said it underscores a continuing push to disrupt networks that use misdeclaration, transshipment and doctored documentation to slip past the prohibition, and to protect both national security and the integrity of India’s supply chains.
Investigations remain at a preliminary stage. What is already clear is the method: a short hop from Karachi to Jebel Ali, a container switch, and a second voyage toward India with a new origin story. For importers testing that route, Operation Deep Manifest is still watching the paperwork as closely as the cargo.
