KOCHI: The Indo-Bhutan Joint Customs Group on Integrated Border Management will hold a four-day meeting in Kerala from April 20 to 23. Sources said the meeting is likely to take place in Kochi and will focus on measures to curb tax evasion and smuggling. According to sources, Operation Numkhor will be a key session during the meeting, a topic that also figured prominently in the home secretary-level talks between the two countries in October last year.
In related developments, the Ernakulam Additional Sessions Court recently rejected the bail application of Assam District Transport Officer Deepak Pathowary, a key accused in a major vehicle smuggling case.
Investigators alleged that Pathowary facilitated the smuggling of 36 vehicles into India using forged documents.
The case gained further traction after a Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report, tabled in the Assam Legislative Assembly in February 2026, revealed that 15,849 vehicles in Northeast India shared identical chassis and engine numbers, largely linked to illegal imports from Bhutan.
The alleged mastermind behind the racket, Biswadeep Das, a resident of Jaigaon in West Bengal, was arrested on February 22, 2026, near the India-Bhutan border by the Kochi Customs officials. Das, a senior engineer with a leading IT company, is considered a key figure in the alleged tax evasion and smuggling racket.