Manila, Philippines – A joint government-private sector campaign has been launched to arrest and prosecute sugar smugglers.
Called Operation Hammerdown, the campaign will focus not only on securing documentary evidence against smugglers but only hunt down the smugglers from the source of shipments to their final destinations.
The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) and the Bureau of Customs (BoC) are backing the drive to be led by Joel R. Goltiao, a former brigadier general. Goltiao also heads the Sugar Anti-Smuggling Organization (SASO). In the previous crop year, SASO was preoccupied with intelligence and information gathering, the results of which were forwarded to the SRA and the BoC. (Marvyn N. Benaning)