Smuggled onions destroyed

RED onions smuggled from India worth at least P1.5 million were destroyed yesterday.

The  consignee, Sadine Star Trading, failed to present an import permit and quarantine permit, said Ronnie Silvestre, BOC-Cebu district collector after the the 24-foot container van was seized in Cebu last March.

He said the Bureau of Customs will  file charges against the trading firm.

“We  waited for the consignee to present the permits, but when they failed to do so, we decided to burn the red onions,” said Silvestre.

Cebu Daily News, however, witnessed how the onions were shredded by a machine in the grounds of the Bureau of Plant Industry in Mandaue City where they will be made into compost fertilizer.

Silvestre said it took time to destroy the onions because they had look for  a proper site to dispose of the cargo.

Under Republic Act 426 or an Act to Regulate Imports, importations of any goods into the Philippines require a proper  import license. /CORRESPONDENT CAREEN L. MALAHAY