MANILA, Philippines — A total of P15.5 million worth of misdeclared agricultural products from China have been intercepted by the Manila International Container Port (MICP), the Bureau of Customs (BOC) said on Thursday.
In a statement, the BOC said that the agricultural products were seized in four different shipments last month, after discrepancies were found in the weight and declared value of the shipments.
Based on x-ray and physical inspection, two of the shipments were declared as red beans but were found to contain 5,300 sacks of refined sugar amounting to P9.6 million.
Another shipment was declared as 1,058 packages of t-shirts but actually 200 sacks of rice, 1,300 packages of other food products, 30 packages of medicine, and 425 packages of other non-perishable items.
This, according to BOC, had an estimated worth of P4.1 million.
Lastly, one shipment was declared as P3,300 boxes fresh apples but the package were actually containing red onions, with a market value of P1.8 million.
Authorities then vowed to continue its anti-smuggling efforts to improve the country’s revenue collection and protect the livelihood of local farmers. /je