Customs on alert for smugglers

The Bureau of Customs was placed on alert yesterday for contraband shipments from China intended to flood the local market during the holiday season.

This developed as the Customs Intelligence and Enforcement Group (CIEG) stumbled on a shipment of 10 container vans of highly taxable items declared as mere soy beans with only three-percent tax.

CIEG chief Deputy Commissioner Ray Allas said that the seized shipment could be the first batch of illegal cargoes that would be entering the country’s ports based on intelligence reports.

In a report to Customs Commissioner Antonio Bernardo, Allas said that the shipment which arrived yesterday at the Manila International Container Port from China has an estimated value of P20 million.

The seized contraband consisted of electronic gadgets, signature clothes, shoes, toys, bags, compact discs and Christmas decorations, among others.

The seizure of the misdeclared shipment followed the apprehension the other day of a shipment of cosmetic toys for children which did not carry a clearance from the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD).

Ray Nicholas, technical assistant to Bernardo, said that the shipment could be hazardous to children as the cosmetic toys were imitations and may possibly carry toxic agents that would irritate the skin.

Allas said that the bureau is also monitoring the arrival of shipments of rice and sugar following the continuous seizure of such shipments without import permits from the Department of Agriculture and the Sugar Regulatory Administration.