The Bureau of Customs has seized P500 million worth of smuggled cigarettes during a raid of warehouses in Bulacan.
On inspection, the BOC also seized P5 billion worth of copyright infringing items such as devices, garments and gadgets.
Some 19 warehouses at Green Miles Compound, Sitio Cabatuhan, Camalig, Meycauayan City, Bulacan were raided by Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service-Manila International Container Port (CIIS-MICP) agents.
“Removing illicit, unsafe, and untested tobacco products from our markets is one of the many functions of the BOC. This safeguards our community and ensures that consumers only have access to products that underwent rigorous standard testing,” BOC commissioner Bien Rubio said.
“In the same manner, we must also protect products with intellectual property rights because failing to do so puts the country in a bad light and thus affects how these companies, brands see the legal protection accorded to them,” Rubio said.
According to CIIS director Verne Enciso, an operative team inspected warehouse numbers 1 to 19 and found suspected smuggled cigarettes and counterfeit items, totaling P5.5 billion based on initial estimates.
“Smuggling in this magnitude is the work of big organizations because of the complexity of the process of storing, hiding and trickling these items to the markets,” Enciso said.
The warehouses were temporarily padlocked and sealed to protect the seized items pending the final inventory of the goods by BOC examiners, Intelligence Group deputy commissioner Juvymax Uy said.
“Many of the items we found in the warehouses were ordinary devices and gadgets that Filipinos use in their daily lives. Our consumers must be certain of the quality and durability of these products, but because these smugglers circumvent the law, we cannot give our buyers the same protection that authorized and legitimate items provide,” he said.
“And not only does smuggling make unsafe products accessible to Filipinos, some of whom are unsuspecting, but they also steal from the economy and prevent us from collecting taxes that could be used for social benefits and the like,” he said.
