SMUGGLED poultry products from China worth some P85 million were seized over the weekend by operatives of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service – Manila International Container Port (CIIS-MICP) in Parañaque City raid.
Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio said on Sunday that the raid was conducted following an intelligence report indicating that the smuggled goods were stored in a warehouse.
Operatives of the CIIS-MICP served the Letter of Authority to a representative of the warehouse before the raiding team entered the warehouse.
“It was found containing various poultry products suspected to be without proper Customs duties and taxes,” Rubio added.
“The audacity of these people to smuggle and hide agricultural products right in the heart of Metro Manila is beyond me. They belittle our laws and make a mockery of our hardworking Customs agents,” he said.
BoC-CIIS director Verne Enciso, whose team worked together with the MICP, Department of Agriculture Inspectorate and Enforcement, and the Philippine Coast Guard, said that the composite team found all frozen duck meat, chicken meat, pork and food items with Chinese markings, and assorted food and beverage with foreign markings.
“An initial inventory found that these poultry products could fetch up to P85 million in the market. But we’re still determining the actual cost,” Enciso said.
With final inventory still to be done by the assigned Customs examiner and witnessed by warehouse representatives, CIIS, and Enforcement and Security Service, Intelligence Group Deputy Commissioner Juvymax Uy said the warehouse was temporarily padlocked and sealed to protect the subject goods.
The owners of the warehouses will be given 15 days to present the proper documents to clear up allegations they were hoarding imported agricultural products. WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL
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