Morales wants guns seized from foreign ship turned over to Customs

MANILA, Philippines - Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Napoleon Morales yesterday said that he would ask President Arroyo’s permission to allow the Customs police to use the high-powered smuggled firearms that were seized from a Panamian vessel.

The contraband was seized on board the M/V Captain Ufuk off the coast of Bataan and its skipper and crew arrested by Customs’ officials.

A certain Lawrence John of South Africa had introduced himself as the captain of the ship, but Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan has placed Bruce Jones, a British national, on the BI watchlist on suspicion that he is the real skipper of the vessel.

Morales said that once the contraband is forfeited in favor of the government, on the grounds that there is a violation of the Tariffs and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP), he would ask the President to allow the Customs police to use the weapons in maintaining peace and order in the ports.

The five crates reportedly contained Galil automatic rifles and 9mm caliber pistols from Indonesia.

The BOC has been asking the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) since March to allocate P5 million to purchase 200 weapons for their police force, claiming they have a shortage of firearms.

The DBM has yet to release any funds for such purpose.

“I have instructed Elvie Cruz, the Customs district collector of the Sub-Port of Mariveles, to fast track the forfeiture of the vessel. The ship would be put up for auction,” Morales said.

He said they would also seek the help of the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) in appraising the value of the 5,421 gross ton ship.

“It is a big but old ship,” he added.

The Commissioner would also ask Libanan if they could “borrow” John and his entire crew so they could bring the ship to Pier 15, to where the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Headquarters is located.

The ship’s master and crew were turned over to the BI since they were foreigners.

“When we bring the vessel to Manila, we would ask the PCG to escort us as a precautionary measure in case of any attempt to steal the M/V Captain Ufuk vessel from us,” he added.

At present, the vessel is still in Bataan.  

Morales and Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) intelligence chief Fernandino Tuason said that they are still in the process of investigating and determining the reason behind the reported smuggling of the firearms.

“As of now it is still too early to say for what purpose the weapons would be used. It is premature to say that it was for political or for terrorist activities. We only received information that some cargo were being loaded off the ship and loaded on board a yacht,” he said.

Tuason said they have several theories and admitted that the shipment might be used for the upcoming poll exercise or for terrorist activities.

“This is just a possibility. We are still continuing our investigation,” he said.

Tuason has also deployed teams to search for the yacht, which reportedly rendezvoused with the ship, but admitted that they would have a difficult time tracing its identity since their informants failed to get the name of the yacht and has yet to give a description.

BOC operatives and intelligence officers would visit areas where yachts dock and determine if any yacht was missing on the day and time when the reported transfer of firearms took place.

It was earlier reported that fishermen alerted the PCG, BOC, BI and the Philippine National Police (PNP) that a vessel was unloading cargo to a yacht last Thursday, Aug. 20, some two kilometers off the Port of Mariveles in Bataan.