Customs seizes smuggled guns

A gun store owner and his alleged cohort are facing life in prison for allegedly trying to smuggle into the country several disassembled high-powered firearms and assorted live bullets from the US, according to the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez said on Thursday the contraband goods were placed inside 15 balikbayan boxes and misdeclared as household items and personal effects.

“The gun parts and ammunition were stuffed between diapers and other personal items,” Alvarez told reporters in a briefing at the Department of Justice. “The items were ready to be assembled as machine pistols and high-powered firearms.”

Alvarez said the boxes were consigned to one Mark Louie Mendoza, a resident of 52 Luna Street, La Loma, Quezon City.

He said the items were sent by a certain Marilou Mendoza from California and that the BOC was still trying to find out how the two suspects were related.

“We are filing various technical smuggling offenses ranging from misdeclaration and misclassification to unauthorized importation of weapons,” Alvarez said.

If found guilty, the Customs chief said, the suspects might spend the rest of their lives in jail.

According to Alvarez, the BOC was in close coordination with the Philippine National Police (PNP) to locate and arrest Mendoza, reported to own the Last Resort Armaments, a gun store at the Makati Cinema Square in Makati City.

He said a check made with the PNP Firearms and Explosives Division showed that Mendoza did not secure an import permit for guns and gun parts.

He said the BOC would also be stricter in examining the contents of balikbayan boxes.