August 13, 2015
SunStar (SDR/Sunnex) | http://goo.gl/0Xqltn
THE Bureau of Customs has seized 26 40-footer container vans of illegally imported sugar and rice worth around P40 million at the Manila International Container Port (MICP).
Customs Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence Jessie Dellosa said Thursday that operatives of the Bureau’s Intelligence Group confiscated around 13,600 sacks of imported Thai sugar inside 21 container vans and around 3,200 sacks of white rice packed in five container vans consigned to Rainbow Holding Inc.
“We were surprised to find that aside from smuggled sugar there are five container vans of smuggled rice na nakahalo. In the Bill of Lading, the place of loading of the sugar shipments were in Hong Kong but the rice came from Guangdong, China,” Dellosa said.
He said the markings of the sacks or packaging indicate that the rice came from Cagayan de Oro City.
"But that can be likened to the firecrackers from China that we seized before which says 'made in Bulacan'...if they get caught outside Customs area they will say the rice were locally produced and not smuggled imported rice,” Delosa said.
The shipments that arrived in four batches from July 16 to 22 this year were misdeclared as bitumen to avoid the required import permits from the Sugar Regulatory Authority (SRA) and the National Food Authority (NFA), in violation of Section 2503, in relation to Section 2530 of the Tariffs and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP).
Bitumen is an oil-based substance used in road construction and waterproofing, among others.(SDR/Sunnex)