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The Bureau of Customs (BOC)-Port of Zamboanga intercepted on two separate occasions fresh red onions with a total worth of P9.49 million in Zamboanga City
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Both shipments were aboard a jongkong, a type of dugout canoe
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The seized items had no sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance from the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Plant Industry
The Bureau of Customs (BOC)-Port of Zamboanga intercepted on two separate occasions fresh red onions with a total worth of P9.49 million in Zamboanga City, BOC said in a statement.
Both shipments were aboard a jongkong, a type of dugout canoe. The first shipment was seized along Barangay Labuan’s coastal area. The vessel, marked as TIMZZAN, contained 1,624 mesh bags of imported fresh red onions amounting to P2,598,400.
The second operation involved 4,308 mesh bags of the spice worth P6,892,800 in a cargo watercraft marked as MJ MARISSA at Varadero de Cawit in Barangay Cawit, Zamboanga City.
The seized onions had no Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearance from the Department of Agriculture (DA)-Bureau of Plant Industry, in violation of Section 1401 of Republic Act 10863, or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act of 2016, in relation to RA 10845 or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016.
The onions were turned over to the DA and transported to its Research Center in Barangay Talisayan, Zamboanga City for safekeeping.
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