CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – A shipment of cigarettes from China estimated to be worth P30 million was confiscated by the Bureau of Customs-10 authorities, the agency said Monday, May 24.
According to Oliver Valiente, Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service field station chief based here, they were informed beforehand that a contraband is set to arrive at a port under the BOC-10 jurisdiction.
Valiente said the seized items were wrongfully declared as personal effects.
He said, they “received derogatory information from national intelligence agencies about the said shipment” prompting them to request John Simon, the BOC-10 district collector, to issue an alert order.
He also added that the shipment arrived at the Mindanao Container Terminal sub-port in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental on May 20, 2021.
The next day, officials from the BOC-10’s x-ray field office, Enforcement Security Services, and the Phil. Coast Guard conducted a partial examination and discovered the imported cigarettes together with some footwear items placed inside a container van.
“The shipment was consigned to a certain Lorna Oftana from General Santos City and she is now under investigation for allegedly violating [Republic Act] 10863 otherwise known as Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA). Also, a Warrant of Seizure and Detention was issued against the shipment,” Simon said.
District Collector John Simon commended the efforts of the Bureau of Customs CDO personnel for its commitment in border protection.
Last year, an estimated 110 million pesos worth of illicit cigarettes were apprehended by the BOC in Northern Mindanao.
