Customs destroys millions of pesos worth of smuggled goods
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Tue, 23 Jul 2019 07:02:22 +0000
THE Bureau of Customs (BoC) has destroyed millions of pesos worth of smuggled goods that included a luxury car, counterfeit cigarettes and cigarette-making machines.
Undersecretary Jesus Melchor Quitain, officer-in-charge, Office of the Special Assistant to the President, led the event at the PUC parking compound inside the BoC at the Port Area in Manila.
A Ferrari car, 12 units of cigarette-making machines and more than 1,000 master cases of various brands of counterfeit cigarettes were destroyed.
Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero said the move was part of the bureau’s relentless effort to prevent illicit trade and other Customs fraud.
Records showed that the Ferrari was misdeclared as used auto spare parts. It arrived at the Port of Manila on May 12, 2019 and was declared abandoned and forfeited pursuant to Section 1129 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA).
It was only upon physical examination that the Customs examiner found out that the shipment actually contained a Ferrari with both doors and the hub dismantled from the main body.
Fake cigarettes and imported cigarette-making machines were seized in February by elements of BOC-Enforcement and Security Service (ESS) from a warehouse in Barangay Bagacay, Tacloban City, after failing to present proof of payment of duties and taxes.
“The seizure and destruction of the said goods serve as a warning to smugglers and manufacturers of fake cigarettes. This is in line with the directive of Secretary of Finance Carlos Dominguez to the Bureau to closely monitor the importation and manufacture of illegal cigarettes,” Guerrero said. WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL
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