Oil tanker loaded with P50 million ‘smuggled’ fuel seized

P3 million smuggled cigarettes seized in Davao port

On Feb 17, 2023

A member of the ESS-BOC testing a volume of the smuggled oil loaded in M/T Braleman. The test showed the oil did not underwent prior fuel marking by the government and is therefore considered as smuggled (photo credit: BOC-PIAD).

THE Philippine Navy (PN) last February 17, 2023, said it has intercepted an oil tanker carrying an estimated P50-million worth of suspected smuggled fuel off Corregidor Island.

Naval Forces Southern Luzon (NAVFORSOL) spokesperson Lt. Regeil Gatarin said they were earlier alerted by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) District Palawan regarding a vessel allegedly containing undocumented fuel.

Upon receiving the information, Gatarin said they immediately deployed the BRP Lolinato To-Ong, the Navy’s newest patrol gunboat, and tracked M/T Braleman 1, which was being maneuvered by its 11 crew members, when flagged at the vicinity of Cabra Island in Mindoro, 8.8 nautical miles southwest of Corregidor Island, as it traveled towards Manila Bay.

Gatarin said the patrol boat intercepted the oil tanker last February 14, Tuesday and forced the vessel to proceed to the Port of Batangas for inspection by waiting members of the Philippine Coast Guard and the Bureau of Customs.

The vessel was found loaded with at least 847,000 liters of suspected smuggled oil valued at around P50.8 million.

Upon inspection the BOC’s Enforcement and Security Service (ESS/Customs Police), the fuel tested negative for the presence of the government-approved fuel marker, a chemical that is mixed into the fuel to indicate that the correct duties and fees were paid before docking.

The tanker, Gatarin added, came from Palawan and possibly headed for mainland Luzon, either Manila or Subic or Batangas where they will possibly disembark the goods.

Prior to the operation, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Batangas served a seizure and detention warrant on M/T Braleman 1.

The oil tanker and its 11 crew were turned over to the BOC and cast anchor at Pier 13 in Manila while the arrested suspects underwent inquest proceedings.

In Davao City, the BOC said that an estimated P3 million worth of smuggled cigarettes were confiscated by the BOC-Collection District XII in a checkpoint, also on Tuesday, February 14.

In a statement, the BOC said it intercepted 103 boxes of illicit cigarettes and a Fuso Aluminum Wing Van during a checkpoint operation manned by combined forces of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Davao district collector Atty. Erastus Sandino B. Austria against the smuggled items for violation of Republic Act No. 10863, known as the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.