BOC-NAIA going after piranha importer

The head of the Bureau of Customs at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (BOC-NAIA) urged the filing of criminal charges against the businessman who tried to import several large piranhas into the country over the weekend.

Ricardo Belmonte, BOC-NAIA district collector, said he has ordered his men to help the NAIA Fisheries Quarantine Service (FQS) in preserving the seized piranhas so that these can be used as evidence in criminal charges that will be filed against businessman Domingo Uy Jr., the alleged importer of the carnivorous fish.

Belmonte and FQS officers checked the piranhas yesterday and found most of them dead. Some were about to expire for lack of oxygen.

Customs and FQS agents discovered 34 black and diamond piranhas among the fish contained inside 15 boxes of supposed "ornamental" or aquarium Amazon fish imported by Uy’s Cygnus Industries Inc. They were shipped into the country from Peru.

After coordination with the BOC-NAIA, FQS officers immediately seized the shipment at a warehouse inside the MIAA complex last Sunday.

It was learned that the consignment consisted of 30 five-inch piranhas, four 15-inch piranhas weighing one kilo each, 12 stingrays and other tropical fish.

Felipe Santamaria, of the NAIA FQS, said charges of violation of Fisheries Administrative Order 126, which prohibits the entry of piranhas into the country, and Republic Act 8550, or the Fisheries Act of the Philippines, will be filed against Uy.

"The penalty is a fine of P80,000, or eight years imprisonment or both," Santamaria said. "Once kumalat dito ang mga yan sa rivers or lakes, uubusin nila ang mga isda natin."

In the black market, a mature female piranha could be sold for as much as P100,000.