Customs agents seize P300-M illegally withdrawn goods

Customs agents have seized 102 cartons containing15,300 pairs of jeans and other allegedly smuggled goods worth some P300 million at the port of Manila.

The suspected smugglers were trying to take the goods out of a Customs bonded warehouse without authority from the Bureau of Customs, according to lawyer Cezar Tugday, chief of the BOC's Warehousing Audit and Monitoring Unit.

The bureau has issued a warrant of seizure and detention against the goods. They are now in the custody of presidential anti-smuggling Task Force Aduana at the Armed Forces Logistics Command at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

The seized goods included 12,876.5 metric tons (12.88 million kilos) of steel pipes, scrap black iron, rolled cold sheets and zinc ingots; 15,300 pairs of Levi's/Dockers denims, and 2,120 pieces of cellphones.

Tugday said the steel pipes, cold iron sheets and zinc ingots, with an estimated value of P250 million, were taken from a warehouse operated by Little Giant Steel Pipe Corp.

New Customs Commissioner Ramon Farolan has required the company to pay a total of P170 million in Customs duties for six warehousing entries, he added.

He said the denims, worth some P46 million and in 750 cartons, were seized from a truck belonging to Crismina Garments Inc. The truck was leaving a warehouse when Customs agents stopped it, he added.

The cargo had no clearance from the Garments and Textiles Export Board and did not have an escort from the Customs bureau, he added.

Tugday estimated the cellphones to be worth P9.8 million or P4,600 for each unit.

The manifest had described the cargo as containing cellphones. When two cartons were opened in the presence of the shipper's representative, each unit was found to have a battery, charger and brochures.

At first, the representative presented another document to show that the cargo contained "2,120 defective cellphones" with notations reading: "Not for return not under bond duties and taxes paid."

However, Customs agents found the cellphones to be brand new and fully operational. In defense, the shipper's representative showed documents to prove that the cellphones were bought in the Philippines.

The importation of cellphones must have a clearance from the National Telecommunications Commission, with the corresponding serial numbers.

Cellphones are usually sent abroad for repairs or for demonstration purposes, said a manager of a local cellphone company contacted by the Customs bureau for reference.