BOC orders seizure of gun parts, ammo

CEBU, Philippines - The district collector of the Bureau of Customs in Cebu has issued a warrant of seizure and detention against a shipment containing smuggled gun parts, accessories and ammunitions from the United States of America.

District collector Ronnie Silvestre yesterday issued the WSD and directed the district commander of the Enforcement Security Services to take custody of the shipment.

A 45-foot container consigned to D’ Golden House Trading Co. was found to have misdeclared items such as rifle barrel, rifle receiver, magazines, butt stock, compensator and the likes. There were also several rounds of assorted ammunitions in it.

The shipment arrived at the Cebu International Port last November 24, it was the second shipment of gun parts to be seized by the Bureau of Customs last month. According to the information provided by the officials from US Department of Homeland Security, the two containers seized in Cebu are part of the four containers from California, two were intended for Manila.

The first container which arrived in Cebu two weeks ago was consigned to a certain Renato Ramos. The consignee, however, was found to be fictitious.

The broker however was identified as Rafael Rubio who is now under investigation together with a custom’s “haosiao” Nelson Arnoco who facilitated the processing of the entry documents.

The shipment also includes several gun parts and ammunitions amounting to about P3.5 million.

Both shipments were misdeclared as personal effects and used disassembled truck head, respectively. A certain Rey Tagaloguin from California was listed shipper in both shipments.

The smuggling of gun parts into the country has alarmed US officials prompting them to send investigators from its Department of Homeland Security. It was the US DHS information that led to the seizure of the second container in Cebu.

The first container van arrived in Cebu two weeks ago which was found to have also contained smuggled gun parts and accessories worth around P3.5 million. (FREEMAN)