BOC destroys P21M in imported vehicles
CRUSHED The Bureau of Customs in Northern Mindanao (BOC-10) destroyed on Friday 14 Mitsubishi jeeps from Japan after the shipment’s consignee failed to show import documents. —PHOTO COURTESY OF BOC-10
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Misamis Oriental, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) in Northern Mindanao destroyed on Friday P21 million worth of vehicles and parts smuggled through Mindanao Container Terminal, the region’s main export and import platform.
Lawyer Elvira Cruz, the BOC’s district collector here, oversaw the destruction of 14 used Mitsubishi jeeps in a facility in Barangay Tablon.
The destruction of the shipment “sends a loud and clear signal to consignees engaged in any form of irregularity that my office is serious in protecting the interest of the government and there shall be no condonation of any illegal act,” Cruz said.
According to the BOC, the jeeps arrived in parts and components on Oct. 30, 2018, from Japan. The items were consigned to Galeo Equipment Corp. but it failed the required import documents. An order of abandonment was issued by the BOC on the Jan. 7, 2019, against the shipment and was forfeited in favor of the government.
On June 15, the BOC also destroyed some P75 million worth of cigarettes smuggled from China in a facility in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon province.
Oliver Valiente, chief of the Intelligence and Investigation Service of the BOC Northern Mindanao, said the shipment of 135,700 reams of assorted cigarettes arrived in January and were declared by the consignee, Sixty Nine Enterprises, as kitchenware.
