THE Customs bureau is planning on filing of charges against a consignee after hundreds of plastic drums containing hydrochloric acid from India were found out to have no import permit when the items entered the Mindanao Container Terminal (MCT) in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental, recently.
The Bureau of Customs (BOC)-Northern Mindanao will file appropriate complaint against the consignee apart from the one that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) is preparing, said Alvin Enciso, chief of the agency’s Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS).
Just recently, a warrant of seizure and detention was issued by Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon, upon the request of Deputy Commissioner Teddy Raval, of the agency’s Intelligence Group, to hold the chemical at MCT pending the filing of cases, Enciso said.
Enciso said the 320 plastic drums were seized by BOC-Northern Mindanao as the PDEA-Northern Mindanao also confirmed that the chemical was really hydrochloric acid after it underwent a laboratory test.
The chemical was in placed inside four 4x20 container vans that entered the MCT sub-port last month.
PDEA-Northern Mindanao said the samples taken from the items containing hydrochloric acid is a controlled precursor and essential chemical under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.
“With the laboratory result, we have already forwarded our recommendations to the [BOC] head office for filing of smuggling case against the importer,” Enciso said.
He said the consignee failed to present import permit, and for that the company, which is based in Butuan City, may be facing violations of importation laws.
The violation, Enciso added, is that the consignee failed to present an import permit from PDEA, the Environment department and Food and Drug Administration, a document that an importing company must secure prior to the importation of the items.
Enciso said the PDEA in Caraga also raided the company’s warehouse and discovered dozens of plastic drums containing hydrochloric acid.
According to Enciso, the consignee said the hydrochloric acid was intended for use in mining activities, although he noted that the importing company was transparent in its declaration.
Smugglers of imported goods usually do not properly declare the items that entered the local ports, Enciso said.
But Enciso added since the consignee is a retailer, it is possible that they just sell the chemical without verifying if it’s really utilized for mining or for the manufacture of methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu.”