THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) announced on Thursday the seizure of some P14 million worth of illegally imported goods that arrived in the Port of Manila in various occasions.
The alleged smuggled shipments contained ceramic tiles, sanitary wares, circuit breakers, steel sheets and resin, among others and were seized by the bureau on grounds of technical smuggling in violation of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP).
The ceramic tiles and sanitary wares were contained in a seven 40- foot container vans and consigned to Linking Enterprises.
The shipment arrived from China through the Port of Manila in January, but was confiscated by the BOC following an issuance of an alert order on the shipment by the bureau’s Enforcement Group.
Customs personnel conducted a document and physical examination and found out that the shipment was grossly undervalued and misdeclared in weight by more than 30 percent.
In its import documents, the importer declared the shipment’s volume at 121,720 kilograms with the declared value at P216,139.
Upon examination, it was found that the shipment’s actual volume is 174,362.80 with a value of P529,382, or a difference of P313,243, or 59 percent.
The bureau also seized a container van of circuit breakers that had also been grossly undervalued by as much as 84 percent.
The shipment arrived in the Port of Manila from Japan in March 2015 and was consigned to Fortress Kinetic Electrical Enterprises.
The BOC also seized two container vans of steels sheets, dryer machine, molding machine, polycarbonate and pigment, which are used to produce galvanized roofs, and were seized due to a discrepancy in weight of more than 30 percent.
There were also other items inside that were also not declared. The shipment consigned to Aberjov Trading has an estimated value of P1.88 million.
The BOC also confiscated a 20- foot container van of polyurethane resin, a raw material used in producing an array of products from ink to plastics, for gross undervaluation with the declared value of only P97,538, while the actual value upon examination was P258,923 with a discrepancy of P212,595, or 63 percent. The shipment arrived at the Port of Manila in December 2014 from South Korea and was consigned to Richneil Marketing.
“Some importers and brokers try to cheat on paying the correct duties and taxes by dramatically lowering the value and misdeclare the weight of the items they import. Let this be a lesson to them that any gross undervaluation and misdeclaration made on import entries is a form of technical smuggling and will be dealt with accordingly,” the BOC said.
Under Section 2503 in relation to Section 2530 of the TCCP, any discrepancy between what was declared and what was found that exceeds 30 percent is gross undervaluation, which constitutes prima facie fraud.
The BOC said the items will be seized in favor of the government and the owners and licensed customs brokers of Linking Enterprises, Fortress Kinetic Electrical Enterprises and Richneil Marketing will be facing smuggling-related charges for the fraudulent importations.