THE Bureau of Customs (BOC)-District 12 have seized one container van filled with matured coconuts for export and another container with compact discs (CDs) and cases after they were deemed misdeclared in separate operations recently.
The most recent operation was launched on June 7 when BOC-District 12 collector retired Army General Ernesto Aradanas along with operatives of the Enforcement and Security Service (ESS-Davao) seized a container filled with matured coconuts.
The exporter, Kyla Baker Coco Trading, filed the documents of the container van with number TCNU9729576 and was declared to contain coconut shell charcoal.
It was consigned to Tianjin Teda Arrival International Freight Forwarding Company bound for China.
But the shipment was held after there were discrepancies in the documents submitted by the exporter during the loading of the container as the declaration was changed to coconut shell and the document had a different container van number.
Aradanas and ESS-Davao then conducted an examination and found out that the shipment contained matured coconuts, contrary to the previous declaration of coconut shell charcoal.
A warrant of seizure and detention (WSD) was issued against the shipment for violation of Section 2503 (Undervaluation, Misclassification and Misdeclaration in Entry) of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP).
Matured coconuts are also prohibited for export based on the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) Board Resolution No. 053-2011.
The other operation, meanwhile, was launched on May 27 when Aradanas and officers of the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Services-Davao seized the shipment consigned to W-Eight Merchandise.
Aradanas issued an alert order on the shipment on May 20 after information from CIIS-Davao indicated that there were more to the 2,900 cartons of CD cases as stated in the import entry.
Physical examination on the shipment then showed that the shipment contained 2,795 cartons of CD cases and 105 recordable CDs and Digital Versatile Discs.
The district collector issued a WSD on the shipment for violation of Section 2503 of TCCP.