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The Bureau of Customs with other government agencies seized millions worth of smuggled frozen food and agricultural products in separate operations
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Simultaneous buy-bust operations on cold storage facilities yielded imported foodstuff worth about P2 million in Caloocan and P15 million in San Nicolas, Manila
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Four containers in Cagayan De Oro port were found to contain onions instead of their declared contents
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The seized goods will be subject to seizure and forfeiture proceedings in violation of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) together with other government agencies seized millions worth of smuggled frozen food and agricultural products during separate operations in Manila, Caloocan and Cagayan De Oro.
On October 15, simultaneous buy-bust operations on cold storage facilities yielded imported foodstuff worth an estimated P2 million in Caloocan and P15 million in San Nicolas, Manila.
In the initial goods inventory in San Nicolas, operatives found hundreds of boxes of, among others, frozen Peking duck, shabu-shabu balls, dimsum, mushroom and Chinese sausage. Found in the Caloocan cold storage were frozen pork, chicken, fish, beef plus pork liver, and fish skin, among others.
Since other regulated imported foodstuff were found during the operations, a Letter of Authority was issued by the Customs commissioner against the owners, representatives, and individual/s in possession of the imported goods.
Also on October 15, two containers said to contain “frozen malt” that arrived at Cagayan De Oro port and consigned to South Road Consumer Goods Trading were inspected and found to contain onions instead. On October 18, an examination of two containers consigned to Glimmer Cape Food Products Trading also resulted in the discovery of onions instead of the declared “seasoning.”
The seized goods will be subject to seizure and forfeiture proceedings in violation of Section 1113 (Property Subject to Seizure and Forfeiture) of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.
BOC earlier said it “strongly denounces the fraudulent importation of agricultural products, andconsistently implements efforts to intensify its border protection measures to assure thesafety of the consumers.”
According to BOC’s third quarter 2021 accomplishment report, the agency has seized P523.273 million worth of agricultural products from 122 seizure operations from January to September 2021.
