The Bureau of Customs (BOC) recently seized a 40-foot container at the Port of Manila after the shipment was inspected and discovered to contain a brand-new payloader and a brand-new forklift, and not the declared 11 packages of machinery and parts.
The shipment had a declared value of just P1.3 million, but BOC put its estimated value at around P30 million.
The container arrived on February 27 from China and was consigned to Green Aphelion Marketing with office address at Unit B 1205 Estrada St., Brgy. 762, Sta. Ana, Manila.
The exporter was Xiamen XGMA International Trading, while the signing customs broker for Green Aphelion was a certain Ferdie Alipio of BF Homes, Parañaque.
The accreditation of Green Aphelion and customs broker Ferdie Alipio with BOC has been revoked, Customs commissioner Isidro Lapeña on April 5 said.
An alert order issued by the Office of the District Collector of Port of Manila prevented the release of the shipment while BOC awaited the issuance of a warrant of seizure and detention against Green Aphelion for violation of Sections 1400 and 1401 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act of 2016.
“We have already discovered the modus operandi of these smugglers which is why the Bureau of Customs has been continuously seizing illegal shipments. I have instructed POM Collector Atty. Erastus Sandino Austria and Atty. Zsae Carrie de Guzman, our X-ray Inspection Project (XIP) office head, to make sure that all our x-rays are functioning and our people are closely checking the images,” Lapeña said.
“Soon, we will also identify the names of customs employees who are conniving with smugglers so we can weed them out of the Bureau,” he added.
