In the North East, Customs was born on 1st April 1947 at Shillong with its twin sister Central Excise under the additional charge of Collector, Calcutta . In 1948, the independent functioning of the Customs & Central Excise Collectorate started with posting of a Deputy Collector in Shillong and in 1951 it grew up to a full-fledged Collectorate with the posting of a Collector.

However, with an increase in the scope of Customs work, a separate Collectorate of Customs (Preventive), North Eastern Region was carved out of this Collectorate of Customs and Central Excise, in September 1993 with its headquarter at Shillong.

Almost all the Land Customs Stations along Indo-Bangladesh border were notified in 1948 and 1949. While most of the Land Customs Stations in Meghalaya were established in 1948, the Land Customs Stations in Tripura were notified in 1949 after the accession of Tripura with Union of India. The Land Customs Stations at Dawki, Bholaganj and Sutarkandi are among the oldest Land Customs Stations in this Commissionerate.

There were as many as 33 (thirty three) Land Customs Stations in this Region during the early 1950s out of which 31 (thirty one) Land Customs Stations were on Indo-Pakistan (now Indo-Bangladesh) border and 02 (two) were on Indo-Burma (now Indo-Myanmar) front. Subsequently, some of these Land Customs Stations were abolished and some new Land Customs Stations were notified.

All these Land Customs Stations were notified under the erstwhile Land Customs Act, 1924.

At present, we have 35 (thirty five) Land Customs Stations in North Eastern Region out of which 27 (twenty seven) of them are appointed for facilitating trade with Bangladesh, 03 (three ) for Indo-Myanmar trade and 04 (four) for Indo-Bhutan trade. Silchar RMS (Railway Mail Service) office Land Customs Station is independent of any border. This Land Customs Stations has no authorised route as export-import is to be done by mail service of the Railways. At present, 10 (ten) Land Customs Stations are non-functional.