Customs intelligence officers to be posted in London, Hong Kong

New Delhi: India is looking for suitable officers for posting as customs sleuths in London, Hong Kong, Dubai and Brussels in an effort to check trade-based money laundering among others, officials said on Monday.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), the lead agency to check customs frauds and smuggling, has started the process of selecting customs overseas intelligence network (COIN) officers for these places, they said.

The officers will be posted as Consul at the Consulate General of India at Dubai and Hong Kong and as First Secretary at the country's High Commission at London and in Brussels, the officials said.

Earlier this year, the government created two posts of COIN at the Indian Embassy in Beijing and in the Consulate General of India at Guangzhou, they said.

COIN officers play an important role in checking trade-based money laundering and other financial frauds originating from abroad, the officials said.

They are usually mandated to pass on intelligence gathered from their posting stations overseas to help Indian intelligence agencies mainly the DRI to check financial offences, they said, adding COIN officers have been posted in several countries, including Nepal, Singapore and the US among others.

It is, however, not the first time that COIN officers are being appointed in London and other places. PTI