Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Ruffy Biazon today (December 11, 2012) led the condemnation, destruction and rendering of 60 tons of misdeclared frozen Peking ducks, pigeons and piglets worth over PhP 40 million at the Ecosafe Agro-Products at the Harbour Center’s First Link Container Yard, which were earlier seized by Customs operatives after the BOC- X-Ray Project’s (BOC-XIP) discovery of the misdeclaration during scanning of the two (2) forty footer refrigerated vans from China.

According to Biazon, HEXA Trading, the shipment’s consignee, tried to conceal the frozen Peking ducks, pigeons and piglets behind a front layer of boxes filled with frozen mackerel in the two (2) forty footer refrigerated vans, declared its shipment as frozen mackerel and provided a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) import permit. However, during  its x-ray scanning on October 16, 2012, or a day after its October 15, 2012 arrival at the Port of Manila, the misdeclared and illegally imported frozen Peking ducks, pigeons and piglets from China were discovered.

“We are strictly enforcing the Department of Agriculture’s ban on the importation of frozen poultry and meat products from China to avoid the entry of the dreaded avian or bird flu virus in the Philippines.” Biazon said, adding that “and the destruction of these illegally imported food products from China today, is part of our measures to secure the safety of the Filipinos.”

For her part BOC-XIP head lawyer Lourdes Mangaoang said her x-ray operatives got suspicious of the HEXA Trading shipment when images alien to a frozen food mackerel appeared during scanning, prompting her to issue an Alert Order for the two (2) forty footer refrigerated vans.

“The images that appeared in the boxes piled in the inner portion of the refrigerated vans during scanning were not typical of frozen mackerel. So I immediately issued the corresponding Alert Order for the two refrigerated vans to facilitate a 100% physical examination and the subsequent issuance of the Warrant of Seizure and Detention (WSD).” Mangaonag said.

Today’s condemnation and destruction is the largest so far this year.