THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) in Subic Freeport has intercepted P66 million worth of vegetables in Subic on Thursday, November 18, 2021.
The seized agricultural products include carrots, sweet oats, broccoli, mushrooms and red onions.
BOC Port of Subic issued Pre-Lodgement Control Orders (PLCO) against the 9x40 foot container shipment consigned to JKJ International Co. and 13x40 foot container shipment consigned to EMV Consumer Goods Trading.
District Collector Maritess T. Martin received information from the Intelligence Group (IG) that the shipments from said consignees contain agricultural products.
Martin ordered the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) to immediately conduct profiling of shipments with similar declarations suspected to contain wrongfully declared or undeclared vegetables.
This resulted in the request for the issuance of PLCO against the subject shipments.
The intelligence report also revealed that EMV Consumer Goods changed its name several 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.
Present during the examination are the BOC officials, representatives from the CIIS and Enforcement and Security Service witnessed by the Economic Intelligence Team, Assistant Secretary Laciste of the Department of Agriculture, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, National Bureau of Investigation, Department of Trade Industry, SBMA and K9 PDEA.
Warrants of Seizure and Detention will 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.
Martin vowed that the Port will continue to stay alert against unscrupulous importers especially since the Christmas Holiday Season is fast approaching.