P10M worth of smuggled rice seized in Davao, BOC on 'intensified mode' vs smuggling

Bureau of Customs officials on Thursday inspected some P10 million worth of smuggled rice intercepted at the Port of Davao last March 22. Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon led officials in the inspection of the shipments seized by Customs intelligence operatives under Deputy Commissioner Danilo Lim. Lim, in a post on his Facebook account, said the shipment was found in 20-footer container vans consigned to Davao-based traders. "Mactech Industrial Machines & Supply’s 10 container vans of illegally imported rice from Singapore worth P5 million were misdeclared as stone slabs, while Berthand Enterprises’ 10 container vans of Singapore hot rice also worth P5 million were misdeclared as Cellulose FIBER. Both shipments arrived on March 22, 2013 on board two different vessels," he said He added the BOC is on "intensified mode" in its campaign against smuggling. For his part, Biazon said the consignees "deliberately misdeclared their shipment to avoid the required rice import permit from the National Food Authority.” “If we have to seize smuggled rice each day, we will do it, if only to show how serious is the BOC’s campaign against smuggling,” he added. The Customs bureau's intelligence unit had also seized 1,000 container vans at the Port of Cebu and 94,000 bags of rice seized at the Port of Legazpi last March. — BM, GMA News