NASTF probes 3 shrimp exporters

Three companies believed to be involved in the smuggling of frozen shrimp from China into the European Union using the Philippines as a transshipment point, are now the focus of an investigation by the National Anti-Smuggling Task Force, a NASTF official said.

The EU is supposed to have shipped back to the country a total of 60 container vans of the frozen shrimp, nine of which are set for burning and destruction on orders of NASTF chairman Angelo Reyes.

Col. Danilo Servando, NASTF spokesman, said that the task force is still trying to account for 51 of the 60 containers which have been ordered returned to the country for failure to pass EU standards.

"Based on the documents, there are supposed to be 60 container vans all in all. We have to physically account for all of them," he said.

Servando said that Reyes had formed a committee to expedite the prosecution of the smuggling case and thereby "save the Philippines’ image as an exporter of fishery and aquatic products in the global market."

The prosecution committee is expected to gather evidence against three companies behind a shipment of shrimp from Ningbo, China, that was found to have high concentrations of a harmful antibiotic known as chloramphenicol.

The EU banned the use of chloramphenicol, which causes anemia and other potentially fatal diseases, in 1994. The Delegation of European Commission to Thailand said the EU now requires all consignments from China, Vietnam and Indonesia to be tested for the presence of the illegal substance.

During their first meeting on May 12, the prosecution committee, chaired by Bureau of Fish and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) director Malcolm Sarmiento Jr., recommended the inclusion of two other exporters, SR Seafoods and the T&T Seafood Exports Inc., in the charge sheet.

Charges had already been filed against AFI International Trading Corp. before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), said lawyer Nemesio Magno of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) Intelligence and Investigation Service.

"Aside from AFI, two other exporters, namely SR Seafoods and T&T Seafood Exports Inc., were used as exporters of frozen shrimps. In view of this, amendment of the original complaint is apparently necessary," said Sarmiento.

The committee also includes four NASTF representatives, an NBI official, two other BFAR officials, and a representative from the Department of Justice.

A two-page document on the minutes of the May 12 meeting obtained by The STAR revealed that Magno had also requested the BFAR to submit their respective affidavits to prove that the health certificates and export permits allegedly presented by AFI are indeed fake.

The BOC was first alerted to the smuggling attempt by a note verbale issued by the EU to the Philippine government through the Department of Foreign Affairs.