Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez on Tuesday ordered the seizure of P3.5 million worth of smuggled red onions recovered from Navotas two weeks ago.
Alvarez said smuggled red onions were confiscated at the Marcelo Cold Storage Warehouse along Northbay Boulevard after a week-long surveillance by Customs special agents Aramis Pernia and Garret Jacinto.
Customs agents raided the warehouse and its environs twice—on July 6 and July 17—and confiscated around 4,000 bags of red onions.
“The management of the Marcelo Cold Storage facility could not present any document that would prove that the apprehended onions were legally imported,” Alvarez said.
He said raids were the first accomplishments of the newly-created Customs Oplan Sagip-Agri (Cosa) Project which was conceptualized by Customs Intelligence and Investigation (CIIS) director Filomeno Vicencio, Jr. and Intelligence Division chief Jose N. Yuchongco.
He added that the Cosa project was meant to ensure that imported products that cleared customs “under anomalous circumstances were recovered and the guilty parties penalized.”
Customs Intelligence Division chief Jose N. Yuchongco said four teams of customs intelligence agents, under Customs official Eric Albano, were deployed in various locations in Metro Manila to look for smuggled agricultural products.