260,000 kg of smuggled onions seized

Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez on Friday ordered the seizure of some 26,000 bags of onions that were smuggled into the country from India and China.

Alvarez said customs intelligence and investigation operatives found the onions, which weighed 260,000 kilograms and were worth around P16 million, in a cold storage facility in Meycauayan City in Bulacan.

“The smuggled onions could have arrived stacked in at least 10 40–foot containers,” Alvarez said in a statement.

He directed the Bureau of Customs’ Run After Smugglers Group to conduct a thorough investigation and “unmask the people behind this smuggling attempt, including customs employees in cahoots with the smugglers.

He said the agency learned about the contraband of red and white onions from Rodolfo M. Niones, former chair of the Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magsisibuyas ng Nueva Ecija (Kasamne).

The seizure came a day after eight containers of white onions were confiscated by customs officials in Davao.

Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service Director Filomeno Vicencio Jr. said they were still trying to identify the consignee of the contraband, although the cold storage warehouse in Meycauayan where the onions were found belonged to a trading company.

He identified the company as Tianlong Trading at Sterling Compound, Barangay (village) Iba, Meycauayan City.

Vicencio said Tianlong Trading failed to present evidence of payment of duties and taxes for the onions.

Aimie Lincallo, Tianlong Trading secretary, also failed to produce phyto-sanitary inspection certificate from the countries of origin and plant quarantine clearances from the Bureau of Plant Industry, he added.

Alvarez commended Vicencio, Intelligence Officer Bien Rubio and other customs intelligence officials for foiling the smuggling attempt.

Kasamne also praised them “for preventing the entry into the local market of some 230 metric tons of onions which should come as a welcome development for local onion growers who have long been complaining of unfair competition from imported onions.”