Best performing officers from law enforcement agencies to be felicitated

FICCI CASCADE [Committee against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Destroying the Economy] is organizing the 4th edition of its flagship annual international event titled MASCRADE 2017 –Movement Against Smuggling and Counterfeit Trade scheduled on 12-13 October 2017 in New Delhi.

This year,the theme of the conference is “Protect Your Brand Globally: Fight Counterfeiting, Smuggling and Piracy.”FICCI CASCADE and KPMG in India (knowledge partner for MASCRADE, 2017) will release adetailed report titled- Illicit trade: Fuelling Terror Financing and Organised Crime, on thisoccasion. This report is analysing growth figures, case studies, impacts and initiatives at the national and international level to understand the various dimensions of illicit trade with focus upon counterfeiting, piracy and smuggling for consumer products and its linkage in financing terrorism and organised crime. Further, the report is illustrating a framework for reducing the illicit trade and channelising the illegal funds to the criminal organisations.

Terrorism is a global problem that affects almost every country of the world, impacting industry, government and the civilians alike. More than 55 per cent of all attacks in 2015 took place in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nigeria. In order to fund and execute these attacks, terrorist organisations require financing for which they employ different financing mechanisms. It has been observed that illicit trade which includes smuggling, counterfeit and piracy is one of the most favoured mechanisms used by these organisations to finance their operations. Many prominent terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Al Qaida, Irish Republican Army etc. rely on illicit trade for financing upto 20 per cent of the terror operations, recent example of which is Charlie Hebdo attacks.
India has a committed border protection force and other enforcement agencies that not only safeguard the long national borders against trans-border criminals including smugglers and terrorists but also ensure prevention of smuggling and enforcement of anti-smuggling & anticounterfeiting laws. It is vital that we acknowledge the efforts put in by the officers who show high standards of rigour and intelligence in prevention of counterfeiting, smuggling, piracy andadministration of related matters which impact Indian business and economy.
In line with the tradition, FICCI CASCADE, during the event will felicitate Best Performing
Officers who have performed exceptionally in combating, apprehending and administrating
preventive mechanisms with regards to illicit trading activities. The awardees will represent the
following institutions:
1. Border Security Force
2. Indian Coast Guard
3. Sashastra Seema Bal
4. Assam Rifles
5. Indo Tibetan Border Police
6. Delhi Police
7. Customs Department, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of
India.
8. Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Central Board of Excise Customs, Ministry of
Finance, Government of India