Smuggling of Chinese drones soaring in Tamil Nadu
CHENNAI: Gold, wildlife, and narcotics have been the usual contrabands seized by Chennai Customs, but, of late, smuggling of Chinese drones into Tamil Nadu from Southeast Asian nations and Gulf countries through airports and seaports is on the rise. This is due to the soaring demand for the equipment in the grey market, sources said.
According to a 2022 February notification of the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, import of drones is completely banned in fully assembled Completely Built-up (CBU) form, fully disassembled Completely Knocked Down (CKD) form, or partially assembled Semi Knocked Down (SKD) form, barring exceptions provided for Research and Development, Defence and security purposes.
Sources said that in the last financial year, Chennai Air Customs had seized at least 200 Chinese-made drones worth more than Rs 2 crore from passengers who arrived by air from Singapore, Malaysia and UAE. Data sourced through RTI show that this is a significant increase from the 67 drones seized in 2019-20 and 30 in 2023-24.
This might just be the tip of the iceberg, say sources, pointing to the seizure of 4,240 toy drones worth Rs 2.34 crore by the Chennai Seaport Customs on February 12. RTI data also show that drones are smuggled through Bengaluru airport too, with around 250 drones seized from 2019-20 to 2023-24. Multiple cases have also been busted by the Delhi Customs and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) teams across the country. Most of these drones have been sourced from DJI, a Chinese firm, sources said.
Going by the thumb rule that Customs foils just 10% of all smuggling bids, the number of drones brought into the country could be significantly more.
‘Only 10% of drones used in India are of local make’
Data sourced through RTI shows that this is a significant increase from the 67 drones seized in 2019-20 and 30 in 2023-24.
This might just be the tip of the iceberg, say sources, pointing to the seizure of 4,240 toy drones worth Rs 2.34 crore by the Chennai Seaport Customs on February 12. RTI data also show that drones are smuggled through Bengaluru airport too, with around 250 drones seized from 2019-20 to 2023-24. Multiple cases have also been busted by the Delhi Customs and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) teams across the country. Most of these drones have been sourced from DJI, a Chinese firm, sources said.
Going by the thumb rule that Customs foils just 10% of all smuggling bids, the number of drones brought into the country could be significantly more.
Official sources say that smugglers dismantle the drones and conceal it in their checked-in baggage and declare it as electronics to avoid Customs scrutiny. These are then sold in electronics shops across cities. In Chennai, they are available in Triplicane, but the traders don’t issue any sales receipt for them. Drones are now omnipresent and used in weddings and other functions and also pursued as a hobby, apart from official use by government agencies for security and other purposes.
L Karthikeyan, a Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) certified remote pilot instructor who offers training programmes for drone operators, said that only 10% of the drones used in India are of local make, while the rest are all Chinese ones, which are officially banned.
The ban is largely because the server for all these Chinese drones is based in that country and agencies are worried about the safety of Indian data that could be accessed from these servers.
“Every drone has to be registered with the DGCA which gives a Unique Identification Number (UIN). This will not be given for Chinese drones,” he said, adding that even police units use only Chinese-make drones. Awareness about this is very poor, he said.
A police officer in Coimbatore, where the former commissioner V Balakrishnan ordered a review of illegal drone users, echoed Karthikeyan, stating that there were only 80 registered drone users in the city, but the unregistered ones were many more.
“Most drone users are not aware about the rules. For instance, drones are banned from flying in what is called a red zone, which covers sensitive installations like defence, airports, etc. They can only operate in green zones and in yellow zones with government permission,” the cop said.
Incidentally, a case was registered in Chennai airport last August when footage of the terminal was captured from a drone and uploaded on Instagram. It was later taken down after it was flagged by the authorities.
200 Drones seized in one year in Chennai
Chennai: In the 2024-25 financial year alone, the Chennai Air Customs has seized at least 200 Chinese-made drones worth more than Rs 2 crore from passengers who arrived from Singapore, Malaysia and UAE. Data sourced through RTI show that this is a significant increase from the 67 drones seized in 2019-20 and 30 in 2023-24