SBMA watches out for new tricks of smugglers

ANTI-smuggling Task Force Subic (TFS) seized the other day six imported cars worth more than P5 million as Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) intensifies its drive against smugglers employing a new modus operandi. The seized vehicles were concealed inside three 60-footer container vans shipped to Subic freeport from Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong. The broker was identified as Acropolis, a registered freeport locator no longer operational.SBMA authorities ordered the opening of the containers as soon as the SBMA Seaport Department declared that the shipments had been abandoned by the custom brokers and consignees who could no longer be located. The abandoned containers have been stacked in the SBMA container yard for several months now. Documents revealed that the shipment from Hong Kong was declared as utility vehicles but revealed two sports cars, including a one-seater 16-valve engine Honda EK4-111177 race car. The container from South Korea, which had been declared as used vehicles, yielded a Hyundai Sonata sedan and a Kia Carnival. The third container van was declared as used clothing but contained two luxury vehicles.SBMA said that after suffering a series of setbacks from law enforcers, the smugglers have shifted their modus operandi to using the name of a broker no longer operating in the area. "According to our intelligence networks, to avoid any possible arrest, these smugglers are still using the brokers’ name as its consignee even after brokers such as the Acropolis, had already left the freeport," it said. The vehicles and all other seized smuggled goods will be auctioned in favor of the SBMA.