The Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) state of the art x-ray machines continue to provide its operational and strategic advantage in the government’s anti-smuggling campaign when it once again caused the seizure of two (2) forty-footer reefer vans filled with Php40 million pesos worth of illegally imported Peking ducks and pigeons from China last October 16, 2012 at the Port of Manila (POM) by operatives of the BOC’s X-Ray Inspection Project (XIP) under lawyer Ma. Lourdes Mangaoang.
According to Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon, local importer HEXA Trading tried to avoid the required import permit from the Department of Agriculture (DA) for its two (2) reefer loads of frozenPeking ducks and pigeons by declaring its hot shipment as frozen mackerel.
“The importer of these Peking ducks and pigeons may have underestimated the capabilities of our x-ray machines and thought that they would be able to do away with their illegal trade by concealing their hot shipment behind the pile of boxes of frozen mackerel inside the reefer vans,” Biazon said. “his will definitely be a costly lesson for HEXA Trading as not only will the BOC confiscate their two reefer vans ofPeking ducks and pigeons, but we will also sue the officials of this company for violations of the Tariffs and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP),” he added.
The BOC is currently on an over-drive mode in its campaign against smuggling with the on-set of the “ber” months. Moreover, it is also aggressively pursuing the cases against violators of the TCCP.
For her part, XIP Head Mangaoang said that, in compliance with Commissioner Biazon’s instruction to subject all reefer vans to x-ray scanning, in light of the on-set of the Christmas season, the two (2) reefer vans of HEXA Trading which arrived at the POM on October 15, 2012 were scanned by her operatives on October 16, 2012. Â
“When the two (2) containers made its pass on our x-ray scanners, suspicious images appeared on our monitors prompting us to recommend to Commissioner Biazon for the issuance of the corresponding Alert Orders. And upon full inspection of the two reefer vans, we discovered the concealed Peking ducks and pigeons in the two vans,” Mangaoang said, adding that, “With the way the Peking ducks and pigeons were stuffed, the intention to illegally sneak these frozen food products into the country is obvious. Had it not been for our high-tech x-ray machines, HEXA Trading may have succeeded in its smuggling attempt.”
The broker who facilitated the entry of HEXA Trading’s importation was a certain Remedios Lopez of Well Cargo.
