BOC seizes P500M ‘fake’ products in Tondo raid

MORE than P500 million worth of fake luxury items were confiscated by the Bureau of Customs after a raid at a warehouse in Tondo, Manila on Monday, July 6, 2020.

Deputy commissioner for intelligence (DCI) Raniel Ramiro, said his men together with elements from the bureau’s ‘Intellectual Property Rights’ (IPR) division made a surprise inspection at the warehouse along Juan Luna St., Tondo where they found stacks of fake Louis Vuitton bags, along with fake brands of Lacoste, Gucci, Balenciaga, Kate Spade Tory Burch, Hermes, Prada and Calvin Klein, among others.

Ramiro said the IG planned the operation after receiving information from the local representative of Louis Vuitton that various brands of counterfeit products are being kept at the warehouse.

He was then immediately granted a “LOA” (letter of authority) by Comm. Rey Leonardo Guerrero to validate the information.

Ramiro said that representative samples of the confiscated items are to be forwarded to the respective brands’ owners to confirm if these were indeed fake.

He added that appropriate charges are now being readied against the suspects who are yet to be named pending the result of their investigation.

Meanwhile, at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, customs authorities said they again foiled an attempt to smuggle into the country, P660,000 worth of illegal drugs and precursors from the United States.

The intercepted packages of shabu were misdeclared as “gift puzzle game board” and “puzzle game made of cardboard as a gift” bound for Albay and Cabanatuan City.

However, actual examination of the packages revealed the presence of the illegal drugs.

In addition, two bottles of Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK), a controlled chemical, essential to the production of shabu and which came from Taiwan, were also seized for lack of import permit from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).