BOC tallies 30 smuggling, admin cases against importers, brokers, in Q1 2022
P31.5 million fake health products seized in Manila raid
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) has tallied 30 smuggling/criminal and administrative cases filed in the first quarter of 2022 before the Department of Justice and the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) as the agency continues in its relentless drive against smuggling under the leadership of Comm. Rey Leonardo Guerrero.
In a report to Guerrerro, Atty. Vener Baquiran, deputy commissioner for Revenue Collection and Monitoring (RCMG), citing a report from the BOC Action Team Against Smugglers (BATAS), said the criminal/smuggling cases cover 24 cases involving 73 individuals filed before the DOJ and 6 administrative cases at the PRC involving professional customs brokers.
BATAS is under the supervision of Baquiran’s office.
Data from BATAS showed the cases involved the unlawful importation of cigarettes valued at P160.4 million; agricultural products valued at P131.4 million; motor vehicles valued at P49.4 million; general merchandise amounting to P7.7 million; and, other commodities valued at P7.2 million.
BATAS is expected to have its hands full again in the coming days after the bureau’s intelligence and investigation service (CIIS), together with the Intellectual Property Rights Division (IPRD), seized smuggled counterfeit and unregistered health products with an estimated value of P31.5 million in 2 operations last April 19, 2022, in Santa Cruz, Manila.
Armed with a Letter of Authority (LOA) approved by Guerrero, the implementing team composed of personnel from the CIIS-IPRD, BOC-Port of Manila (POM), National Bureau of Investigation – National Capital Region, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), inspected the warehouses located at 1005 Ongpin Street, Santa Cruz and Units A, B, C, and D at 641 Fernandez Street also in Sta. Cruz.
Prior to sealing the subject warehouses, BOC examiners, in the presence of CIIS and the AFP operatives, conducted an inventory of goods comprising of various items requiring registrations and clearances from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) such as medical and cosmetic products bearing the brands Lianhua Lung Cleansing Tea, Healthy Brain Pills, Gluta Lipo, Lidan Tablets, Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa, Vita herbs and other goods bearing Chinese brands.
The goods found in the warehouses at 1005 Ongpin Street were valued to be at approximately P9.5 million while those at Fernandez St., were valued to be around P22 million.
The representatives of the respective warehouses were informed by the implementing team to provide importation documents and other pertinent permits covering all goods found to prove they were legitimately brought into the country or they faced seizure and those identified behind their importation charged before the DOJ.
