The Bureau of Customs (BOC) recently seized 26 forty-foot equivalent units (FEUs) of imported sugar and rice with an estimated value of P40 million at the Manila International Container Port (MICP).
The 13,600 sacks of imported Thai sugar inside 21 containers and around 3,200 sacks of white rice packed in five containers were consigned to Rainbow Holding, Inc.
Customs Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence Jessie Dellosa said that in the bill of lading, the place of loading of the sugar shipments was Hong Kong but the rice came from Guandong, China.
Markings on the sacks indicate the rice came from Cagayan de Oro. Dellosa said this tactic allows the importer to claim that the rice, if caught outside Customs premises, was locally produced and not smuggled.
The shipments arrived in four batches from July 16 to 22, 2015 and were misdeclared as bitumen to avoid the required import permits from the Sugar Regulatory Authority and the National Food Authority. This violates Section 2503, in relation to Section 2530, of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines. Bitumen is an oil based substance used in road construction and waterproofing, among others.
With the latest seizure, the number of illegally imported Thai sugar seized by BOC in MICP has increased from 24,000 to over 39,000 sacks or around 2,000 tons (2 million kilograms) with a total estimated worth of over P95 million.
In addition, Intelligence Gtoup operatives intercepted 2,500 sacks of imported sugar last June at the Port of Zamboanga and seized around 10,000 sacks of imported sugar at the Mindanao Container Terminal in Misamis Oriental last May.
