Subic Bay Freeport – The Bureau of Customs – Port of Subic seized smuggled agricultural products worth P66 million on November 18, 2021.
District Collector Atty. Maritess T. Martin received information from the Intelligence Group (IG) the upcoming shipments a 9×40’ container consigned to JKJ International Co. and 13×40’ container consigned to EMV Consumer Goods Trading contain an agricultural products.
Atty. Martin immediately ordered the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) to conduct profiling of shipments with similar declarations and suspected to contain misdeclared or undeclared agricultural products which resulted in the request for the issuance of Pre-Lodgement Control Orders(PLCO) against the subject shipments.
Intelligence report from IG also revealed that EMV Consumer Goods changed its name multiple times but was still detected due to the intense profiling of shipments.
The conduct of non-intrusive (X-Ray) and physical examination confirmed that the shipments contained assorted agricultural products such as carrots, sweet oats, broccoli, mushroom, and red onions.
Warrants of Seizure and Detention shall be issued against the shipments for violation of DA Department Circular No. 04 series of 2016 and Section 1113 (f) of the Republic Act No. 10863 also known as the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.
Present during the examination are the Bureau of Customs officials: District Collector Maritess T. Martin, Assistant Secretary Laciste of the Department of Agriculture, representatives from the CIIS and Enforcement and Security Service witnessed by the Economic Intelligence Team, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Department of Trade Industry (DTI), SBMA and K9 PDEA, as well as representatives from National Intelligence Coordinating Agency.
The port will continue to stay alert against unscrupulous importers especially since the Holiday Season is fast approaching District Collector Martin said.