Coast Guard dogs sniff out smuggled mobile phones in Bacolod

MANILA, Philippines — Coast Guard K-9 dogs sniffed out several boxes of smuggled mobile phones and accessories during a routine inspection at the port in Bacolod City, a report said on Friday. Online news site Visayan Daily Star (www.visayandailystar.com) said the discovery was made at the Bredco port at midnight Tuesday. Bacolod Coast Guard Commander Lt. S.G. Godofredo Vagilidad said his men were conducting a regular inspection of passengers' luggage when a K-9 unit sniffed the items in two boxes. Recovered were 250 Nokia cellular phone chargers, 20 Sony Ericson batteries and 19 Nokia cell phones, Vagilidad said. He said the boxes, whose owners have not been identified yet, were aboard the Ocean Jet Fast Ferry from Iloilo. Vagilidad said the items were likely to be smuggled since they do not have stickers of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). The confiscated items have been turned over to the NTC, he said. At least two other boxes are in the custody of the Coast Guard, and will be opened next week in the presence of NTC representatives. Chief Petty Officer Victor Pulvora said many Chinese nationals went to their headquarters Thursday to claim the boxes but failed to show the proper documents. Last Monday, the Coast Guard seized 161 suspected smuggled cellular phones from Taiwanese Shi Hwei Xiang and Dy Pain Chok at the BREDCO port. The phones worth P330,000 were about to be loaded on the Ocean Jet fast ferry when the Coast Guard intercepted them. - GMANews.TV