Customs seizes P.8 million smuggled onions

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs confiscated at least P800,000 worth of alleged smuggled red onions during a raid on three warehouses in Manila last week, BOC Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero reported yesterday.

Members of the BOC Intelligence and Investigation Service and Intelligence Property Rights Division conducted the raid based on a Letter of Authority issued by Guerrero.

BOC agents swooped down on the warehouses located along Carmen Planas street in Tondo on Oct. 25.

The onion shipment lacked the necessary importation documents such as sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances, the BOC said.

Charges of smuggling and violation of the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines and Customs Modernization and Tariff Act will be filed against the consignee of the shipment, according to the BOC.