The Bureau of Customs (BOC) over the weekend said it intercepted two shipments allegedly containing 12 smuggled motor vehicles from the United States that were misdeclared as “assorted car accessories and supply” in the Port of Manila.
Details of the Intercepted Shipments
According to the BOC, the two shipments contained:
- Four 2000 Honda Civic units
- Three 1998 Honda Civic units
- One 1996 Acura Integra
- One 1999 Honda Civic
- One 2022 Honda S2000
- One 2004 Honda S2000
- One 2007 Mini Cooper S
The BOC said the estimated value of the shipment is P10.8 million.
The shipments which arrived at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) were consigned to Danesh Consumer Goods Trading from the United States, and were found to have 12 motor vehicles after being subjected to x-ray imaging after the BOC received information that these were misdeclared and undeclared items.
BOC's Response
“We had solid information that these shipments may be smuggling motor vehicles into our country under the guise of importing car accessories and parts,” BOC deputy commissioner Juvymax Uy said in a statement.
“The bureau will file the appropriate cases and make sure that these organizations will be held responsible. The BOC is not beating around the bush. We have an all-hands-on-deck approach and we are ready to use all our resources — both technical and technology — to get to the bottom of these smuggling activities,” BOC commissioner Bienvenido Rubio said.
The BOC — mandated to supervise and control the clearance of vessels and aircraft engaged in foreign commerce — is tasked to collect nearly P1.06 trillion this year.
—Jon Viktor Cabuenas/RF, GMA Integrated News
Source: GMA Network
