The Bureau of Customs has seized P85 million worth of smuggled poultry products from China in a warehouse in Parañaque City.
According to BOC commissioner Bienvenido Rubio, the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service at the Manila International Container Port (CIIS-MICP) raided the warehouse containing the products suspected to be without proper customs duties and taxes.
“The audacity of these people to smuggle and hide agricultural products right in the heart of Metro Manila is beyond me. They belittle our laws and make a mockery of our hardworking Customs agents by thinking they can operate these illegal activities just a few kilometers from our port,” Rubio said.
BOC-CIIS Director Verne Enciso, in collaboration with the MICP, the Department of Agriculture and the Philippine Coast Guard, said the team found frozen duck, chicken, pork meat, and food and beverage items with Chinese markings at the warehouse worth an estimated P85 million in the market.
CIIS and Enforcement and Security Service, Intelligence Group deputy commissioner Juvymax Uy temporarily padlocked and sealed the warehouse to protect the seized goods whose owners were given 15 days to present the proper documents and clear allegations of improperly hoarding imported agricultural products.
Without the documents, the shipment will be seized and forfeited for violation of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.
