DAVAO CITY –— Personnel of Bureau of Customs (BOC) have intercepted around P17 million worth of onions hidden between sacks of used clothings known as “Ukay-ukay” inside three container vans from China on December 23, 2022 but the Customs office only released the press statement on Tuesday.
Authoritries suspect that the shipper smuggled the onions and misdeclared it as used clothings.
The smuggled goods were consigned to SB Express Logistics and Business Solution Inc.,
The shipment was originally declared to contain plastic buckets, ladies’ blouses, ladies’ slippers, dish plates, and cat litter. But when the first container underwent an examination it yielded misdeclared sacks of yellow onions hidden in between sacks of “ukay-ukay” worth P2 million.
Aside from the three containers that yielded P17 million worth of yellow onions, seven other containers consigned to SB Express Logistics and Business Solution Inc. are currently on hold by the bureau for suspicion of undeclared and misdeclared onions.
Customs Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz said the three container vans arrived at the Port of Manila and were deliberately misdeclared to be containing various clothings and home products.
In an interview with reporters, Ruiz said “The Bureau has, so far, examined, detained, and seized hundreds of millions worth of shipments that contain agricultural products this month alone. If they think they can use the ukay-ukay to hide the onions, they are mistaken.”
Ruiz said his agency vowed to protect the Philippine borders against any illegal activities especially the entry of illegally shipped products and other contrabanc.
Ruiz said the thorough examination on the three container vans were conducted on Dec. 23 after an alert order was issued over reports received by the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) of possible smuggling attempts from the shipment.
The examination was witnessed by the assigned Customs examiner, COO III Jordan G. Apurillo, and witnessed by DA Representative Commander Leopoldo Apellanes, Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) Representative Mr. Fernando Masbate, Chamber of Customs Brokers, Inc. (CCBI) Representative Renz Jon S. Temeña, and CIIS officials.
Customs Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence Juvymax Uy shared that the success of the operation became possible because of the coordination between BOC and the Department of Agriculture (DA).
“We processed the derogatory information received by the DA and shared with us. Based on these initial reports and investigation, we issued the AO shortly before Christmas. I thank all our hardworking team members for ensuring that we can complete the examination of the containers before the holidays kick in,” he said.
Ruiz, for his part, lauded his men, particularly BOC-CIIS agents, for another successful operation that foiled onion smuggling amid the continuous rise in the price of onion in the local market.-Newsline
