Holy Smoke! BOC ‘ashes’ P658M smuggled cigarettes

FOLLOWING the standing order of Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Rey Leonardo ‘Jagger’ Guerrero for all its 17 collection districts to immediately dispose all confiscated goods, more than P658 million of smuggled cigarettes were reported destroyed last week.

Atty. Segundo Sigmundfreud Barte, Port of Zamboanga district collector, in a report to Guerrero, said a total of P545 million worth of smuggled cigarettes and raw materials for cigarette production were destroyed by the port last September 10, 2020, witnessed by local city officials and other law enforcement agencies to include the officials of Joint Task Force Zamboanga.

The 5,500 master cases of cigarettes and raw materials, which were stored at the ‘Fast Cargo Logistics Warehouse’ in Bgy. Baliwasan, Zamboanga City, were first drenched with pressurized water before being transported to a sanitary landfill in Bgy. Salaan, Barte reported further.

The official added that fake documentary stamps worth more than P1 billion, were also turned over to the local office of the Bureau of Internal Revenue for further investigation and disposal.

Barte said the hoard was a result of their intensified anti-smuggling campaign in the last four months in the Zamboanga area to include the so-called ‘BASULTA’ (Basilan-Sulu-Tawi-tawi) area, which is known as the smuggling corridor in Mindanao.

A day before, September 9, 2020, Port of Cagayan de Oro district collector, John Simon, also reported to Guerrero that some 18,000 reams of smuggled cigarettes worth more than P20 million were destroyed at the local ‘Digama Warehouse and Destruction Facility in Bgy. Bayabas, Cagayan de Oro City.

Simon said the cigarettes were confiscated on different occasions at the Iligan subport, Ozamis subport, and Mindanao Container Terminal (MCT), which are the main ports of entry in Northern Mindanao.

At the Port of Subic, district collector, Atty. Marites Martin said that another batch of smuggled cigarettes worth more than P93 million were also destroyed at the ‘Greenleaf Non-Hazardous Waste Disposal Facility’ in Pampanga last August 26, 2020.

The 3X40 container vans of fake cigarettes arrived last June 25, 2020 and were immediately seized by Subic customs authorities.

For its part, the bureau’s Action Team Against Smugglers (BATAS) under deputy commissioner Vener Baquiran, said smuggling charges were also filed last September 4, 2020, against those behind the foiled cigarette smuggling incidents in Subic, Davao and Cebu.

Baquiran said those charged before the Department of Justice (DOJ) are the registered owners and customs brokers of Caliente Empezar Ventures, Inc., which is behind the June 25, 2020, smuggling attempt at the Port of Subic.

Also hauled to court was Golden Aark Enterprises, which is behind the attempted smuggling of 5X40 containers of cigarettes at the Port of Davao on three separate occasions last July.

The last to be charged are those behind GRR Trading, which was also thrice apprehended at the Port of Cebu for trying to sneak-in, 5×40 containers of cigarettes.

According to the complaints, the suspects were accused of violating Section 1401 in relation to Sections 1113 (f), (l4 and 5), and 117 of Republic Act No. 10863 otherwise known as the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA); violation of National Tobacco Administration (NTA) Memorandum Circular No. 03, S. 2004, Section 10 of the NTA Board Resolution No. 079-2005 in relation to Executive Order No. 245.

In addition, violation of the Republic Act No. 8293 otherwise known as the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines were also filed against Caliente Empezar Ventures Inc. for unlawfully importing counterfeit cigarettes.

To date, 39 cases have already been filed by BATAS before the DOJ against importers and customs brokers for violation of customs laws, rules and regulations, Baquiran added.