Bataan map. INQUIRER FILES
MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) said that it has prevented the alleged smuggling of 146,000 liters of unmarked fuel in Mariveles, Bataan.
BOC added that it also impounded the motorized tanker used to transport the fuel.
According to BOC Commissioner Bien Rubio, agents from the Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) at the Manila International Container Port and the National Bureau of Investigation—Anti-Organized and Transnational Crime Division went to 1466 Barangay Alas Asin in Mariveles, Bataan, to validate the report they received about the smuggling of fuel on Saturday, December 16.
“Our agents went to the anchorage area upon receiving information that there were several vessels carrying alleged smuggled fuel and thereafter being transferred to lorry trucks. A significant challenge in this operation is that this happened in a private port without BOC personnel, so the intel we received is critical,” Rubio said in a BOC press release dated Sunday.
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“These groups might think that they can get away with their illegal activities because it’s Christmas season. We’ve just proved them wrong. This latest operation is a message that nothing will stop and distract us from our goal of coming after them,” he added.
BOC-CIIS Director Verne Enciso said that the estimated value of the fuel and 16 lorry trucks is P88 million.
Meanwhile, the estimated value of the vessel is P60 million, he added.
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“Our agents boarded the MT LORNA 2 at around 9 p.m. last night. They immediately extracted samples of alleged smuggled fuel from the 12 compartments because these samples would need to be tested first,” he said.
“So far, initial test results by ESS fuel marking and SGS mobile laboratory units that arrived around midnight showed that the fuel sampled from the motorized tanker and lorry trucks failed or was unmarked. We would need to do further confirmatory tests,” he added.
BOC said that four out of 11 lorry trucks in the area were loaded with fuel.
There were also five more lorry trucks filled with 32,000 liters of fuel found during a CIIS follow-up operation.