BOC seizes P6.1-M ‘hot’ smartphones from China

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Customs (BOC) recently seized P6.1 million worth of smartphones allegedly smuggled into the country from China and spirited out of a bonded warehouse in Manila, an official said yesterday.

The BOC’s Enforcement and Security Service (ESS) received a tip that 793 Cloudfone Thrill 430X cell phones were illegally brought into the country and set to be taken out of the Safeway Warehouse, a customs bonded warehouse in Manila, Commissioner Rufino Biazon said in a statement.

On Jan. 4, a BOC-ESS team intercepted a closed delivery van carrying the smartphones along San Marcelino street.

Biazon said they arrested Narciso Briones and John Bernardion, both employees of Windfreight Express Total Logistics, and charged them with violating Sections 3601 (unlawful importation) and 3609 (fraudulent removal or concealment of warehoused articles) of the Tariff and Customs Code before a Manila court.

A BOC insider said they “do not know when the shipment arrived and which port it entered because the cellular phones were only (some) of the items placed inside a consolidated cargo, but these were not specified in the manifest. There was no bill of lading on these mobile phones.”

Since there was no record of these cellular phone units arriving in the country, the source said it also follows that there was no payment of correct duties and taxes.

Biazon said the cell phones would be auctioned off to enable the government to recover the lost revenue.

BOC Deputy Commissioner for Enforcement Group Horacio Suansing Jr. said they have heightened the monitoring of all customs cargo holding facilities to ensure that there are no illegal releases of shipments from customs bonded warehouses.