By: Betheena Kae Unite
The Bureau of Customs seized Wednesday a shipment of P2-million glutinous rice from Hongkong.
Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña said Worldwide Apparel Manufacturing Inc. was the consignee of the shipment which was misdeclared.
“The consignee declared it as polyester knitted breast cup, however during the conduct of x-ray examination, a different image was retrieved from the machine which led to the issuance of alert order as per recommendation of the X-ray Inspection Project (XIP),” Lapeña said.
The commissioner said they will investigate the shipment to identify the individuals behind the smuggled rice.
He also said that they will look into the possible accomplice of the smugglers inside the bureau.
“Maybe they have been doing this before, it just so happened that this time they have an intensified campaign against these violations,” Lapeña said.
“That’s what we are investigating, if there are (connivance between the smugglers and some Customs personnel), we should be able to discover that para ma-prevent mga future activities na ganito but this one by itself will serve as a deterence to their next operations,” he added.
Furthermore, the shipment that contained around 500 sacks of rice was not 100-percent physically examined until yesterday.
Major Jaybee Raul Cometa, XIP head, said the shipment arrived in the country on Sept. 5, 2017 through the red lane, but it did not undergo physical examination due to the absence of a representative from Worldwide Apparel.
RA 10863 Sec. 1129 (c) provides that when regulated goods are subjected to alert order and the assessed duties, taxes, and other charges thereof are not paid within 15 days from notification from the bureau of the resolution of the alert order, the shipment shall be deemed abandoned.
