Customs seize cellular phones worth P10 M

Customs agents held yesterday a shipment of cellular phones for Singapore with an estimated value of P10 million for failure of a broker’s representatives to present an export declaration.

Meantime, Customs officials are trying to determine whether a telecommunications firm, considered one of the country’s largest cell-phone service providers, has authority to export the cellular phones.

Customs police led by Col. Joey Yuchiongco seized from a rented van, parked at the compound of a Customs bonded warehouse, some 1,500 units of Nokia model 3210 cellphones to be "exported" to Singapore.

When asked for export documents, the two persons accompanying the shipment could not present them, but claimed to be representatives of a Singaporean broker in Pasig City.

Airport Customs police chief Ma. Esmeralda Saplala said that the representatives of the broker identified as Jaime Bonifacio and Joel Bautista were given until today to present the necessary export documents, otherwise the shipment would be seized in favor of the government.

In another development, a Canadian citizen expressed deep gratitude to NAIA authorities for returning her travel bag which contained jewelry valued at P5 million. — Rey Arquiza