The Indo-Bhutan Joint Customs Group on Integrated Border Management is set to convene a four-day meeting in Kochi, Kerala, from April 20 to 23. The primary agenda of this meeting includes discussions aimed at curbing tax evasion and smuggling activities, with a particular emphasis on a key session concerning Operation Numkhor, which was also a significant topic during the home secretary-level talks held between the two nations in October of the previous year.
In a related case, the Ernakulam Additional Sessions Court has denied the bail plea of Assam District Transport Officer Deepak Pathowary, implicated in a serious vehicle smuggling operation. Authorities allege that Pathowary played a crucial role in the illicit importation of 36 vehicles into India utilizing forged documentation.
The gravity of this case heightened following a report from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), presented in the Assam Legislative Assembly in February 2026, which disclosed that a staggering 15,849 vehicles in Northeast India possessed identical chassis and engine numbers, predominantly associated with illegal imports from Bhutan.
The alleged orchestrator of this smuggling network, Biswadeep Das, was apprehended on February 22, 2026, by Kochi Customs officials near the India-Bhutan border. Das, who holds a senior engineering position at a prominent IT firm, is viewed as a pivotal figure in the ongoing investigations into tax evasion and large-scale smuggling operations.