BOC seizes P4 million smuggled carrots, HK-bound cocaine
A SHIPMENT of imported carrots worth P4 million and illegal drugs worth over P2.3 million were apprehended by alert operatives of the Bureau of Customs this week.
Manila International Container Port (MICP) intelligence chief, Alvin Enciso, in a report to BOC Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero and Intelligence Group deputy commissioner Raniel T. Ramiro, said they earlier received information that a shipment of carrots misdeclared as ‘steamed buns’ would soon be arriving at the port.
He added actual physical inspection conducted on the shipment consigned to ‘Silverpop Dry Goods Trading’ last June 14, 2022, validated their intelligence report.
MICP district collector, Romeo Rosales, who earlier issued an alert order on the shipment, had already issued an ‘WSD’ (warrant of seizure and detention) on the shipment, Enciso added.
At the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) customs authorities and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), announced they are conducting follow-up operations and a deeper investigation after they interdicted some 445 grams of cocaine worth some P2.358 million bound for Hongkong.
Port collector Carmelita Talusan, in a report to Guerrero, said the illegal drugs were found tightly packed and stuffed inside a shipment of “motorcycle muffler, brake pads and radiator hose.”
The apprehension is one of the rare incidents when the NAIA was used to ship out illegal drugs to other countries, particularly cocaine, as it is yet to be confirmed that it is now being produced locally.
The apprehension also came on the heels of the BOC receiving recognition from the PDEA during the latter’s 20th anniversary last June 3, 2022, over the agency’s active involvement in the government’s war against illegal drugs.
Since the start of the Duterte administration in 2016, the joint BOC-PDEA cooperation had resulted to the interdiction and confiscation of illegal drugs worth over P17 billion.
On the other hand, since the start of the year, the BOC has lodged 46 drug seizures valued at P1.6 billion that also led to the arrest of several suspects during controlled delivery operations.
