Smuggle try foiled as BOC-NAIA marks 45th year

The Bureau of Customs at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (BOC-NAIA) celebrated its 45th anniversary yesterday by announcing major seizure of smuggled cellular phones numbering more than 300 units and the launching of a campaign to educate passengers about goods that are taxable as well as those that are not allowed to be taken into the country.

Ricardo Belmonte, BOC-NAIA district collector, proudly announced the confiscation of 302 units of cellular phones from Filipino passenger Abdul Rahman Batua-an, who came home on Philippine Airlines Flight PR 301 from Hong Kong last Saturday afternoon.

The cellular phones, carrying the Nokia, Siemens and Sony Ericsson brands were discovered by customs examiner Rosario Domilon in Batua-an’s check-in luggage when it passed through the baggage X-ray machine at around 1:20 p.m.

Domilon immediately reported the find to BOC-NAIA flight supervisor Arturo Lazaro, who ordered the seizure of the cellular phones and the detention for questioning of the passenger.

Belmonte said Batua-an failed to produce a requisite National Telecommunications Commission permit to bring the phones into the country. He also failed to declare the units upon entering Customs at the NAIA Centennial Terminal.

Last Saturday’s haul was preceded by the confiscation of 30 cellular phones units consisting of Sony Ericsson and Sharp Vodafone brands, which Japanese national Morimoto Isao tried to bring undeclared into the country last Sept. 12 when he arrived from Fukuoka, Japan.

Isao also failed to produce the requisite NTC permit to import the phones into the Philippines.

Yesterday’s celebration of the BOC-NAIA anniversary, which was graced by BOC officer-in-charge Commissioner Alexander Arevalo also saw the launching of an information campaign which seeks to educate arriving and departing local and foreign tourists as well as overseas Filipino workers about meat and agricultural products that are not allowed to be brought into the country due to plant, meat and agricultural quarantine laws of the Philippines.

Carmelita Manahan-Talusan, BOC-NAIA collector, said the program aims to distribute Customs "primers" to all departing and arriving passengers going into and out of the NAIA.

Talusan said the primers will hopefully reduce the disputes that usually arise at the Customs area because of passengers who complain of the seizure of meat products and fruits such as mangoes, not knowing that these are not allowed to be brought in because of quarantine laws.

"Sometimes, they accuse examiners that these goods are being confiscated because they want to take these home themselves. With the primers, we hope to avoid these disputes," Talusan said.

It was learned that the BOC-NAIA program earned the praise of Tony Kwok, the Hong Kong official who was tapped as President Arroyo’s anti-corruption adviser, as a laudable government program.

In a related development, a Taiwanese national was caught with a kilo of cocaine placed inside plastic packs taped around his chest while being frisked by airport security personnel at the NAIA Terminal I last Sunday morning.

Hsien Chin Jui, 34, was supposed to board a China Airlines flight bound for Kaoshiung, Taiwan when he was found with the cocaine worth P5 million.

Airport police authorities immediately confiscated the cocaine and had Jui detained.

Large-scale drug trafficking charges were filed against him before the Pasay prosecutor’s office.