The Bureau of Customs has seized (BOC) P24.8 million worth of apples, ginger and onions allegedly smuggled into the country in 14 40-footer container vans at the Port of Manila.
Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales said yesterday they would be on full alert “because it is expected that there would be more attempts to smuggle products into the country in anticipation of the Christmas season.”
The produce, which came from Hong Kong and China, were consigned to Futek Enterprises. The BOC is preparing to file charges of misdeclaration against the consignee. Morales described Futek as a recidivist offender that has been named a respondent in previous cases.
“Futek has been banned and its accreditation at the BOC has been cancelled. This particular shipment was at the tail end of its (accreditation),” he added.
BOC intelligence division chief Dino Tuason said they discovered that four of the containers, which arrived on board m/v Fesco Trader from China and were declared to contain apples, were actually filled with fresh apples and ginger.
While the remaining 10 containers, which came in on board m/v Ocean Park from Hong Kong were misdeclared as garlic. This was contrary to the findings of their inspection that showed that it contained yellow and red onions.
The shipments were reportedly not covered by an import permit, which should have been issued by the Bureau of Plant and Industry-Department of Agriculture (BPI-DA). There is also no assurance if they are fit for human consumption and therefore cannot be auctioned off, Morales said.
“We are still waiting for guidance from the BPI on how best to dispose of these products,” he said. “We will unplug these reefer containers to speed up the decomposition process and we will finally dispose the contents either by rendering or burying (them) underground.”