BOC seizes P85-M Thailand sugar

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has seized P85 million worth of smuggled sugar from Thailand.

In a statement issued yesterday, the agency said the sugar was placed in 57 shipping containers and it was the BOC’s “biggest apprehension” so far this year in terms of volume and value.

BOC Deputy Commissioner Jessie Dellosa said the shipments arrived at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) between last month and last week.

The shipments were consigned to Global Classe Marketing in Pasay City. They were declared as kitchen utensils and school and office supplies, Dellosa said.

The sugar shipments lacked permits from the Sugar Regulatory Administration.

Dellosa said the highly refined sugar was also declared to have been sent from Hong Kong but was found out to have been shipped from Thailand.

“This is how they tried to evade detection, by first transporting the sugar to another port like Hong Kong and then loading them to another vessel bound for the Philippines,” Dellosa said.

The BOC said a total of 189 shipping containers of smuggled sugar worth more than P284 million have been seized so far this year at the MICP, Port of Cebu and the Port of Cagayan de Oro.

Meanwhile, the Sugar Alliance of the Philippines (SAP) is demanding that BOC Commissioner Alberto Lina resign for failing to fulfill his promise to curb the smuggling of sugar into the country.

The SAP is a conglomeration of sugar planters and millers. Its president, Manuel Lamata, said they have written President Aquino twice, pointing out that Lina “is no good for the industry, no good for the country.”

The SAP, in its second letter dated Aug. 27 to Aquino, said sugar smuggling “has skyrocketed in the past four months, as smuggling syndicates have become more confident in trying to bring in contraband.”