Naia Customs seizes mag hiding $10k between pages

Bureau of Customs (BOC) policemen are tracing the consignee of a magazine found with several $100 bills tucked between its pages at a customs warehouse at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).

Corazon Mansueto, a customs examiner, was going through the parcels at the Naia Federal Express warehouse when she felt a bulky package. The bills totaled $10,000.

“I’ve been an examiner for four decades and I instinctively felt there was something wrong with it,” Mansueto told reporters on Thursday.

The package, which arrived on a FedEx cargo flight on Feb. 22, was opened and the bills were discovered inserted between the pages of a magazine.

The magazine had a cover price of $2 and cost $125 in freight charges.

The parcel was sent by one Jon Estill of Pennsylvania, USA, and was supposed to be delivered to or claimed by a certain Roy G. Lopez at 31 CBW International Naia in Pasay City. The indicated address, Customs Bonded Warehouse No. 31 of the Manila Gateway and World Service Center, is operated by FedEx.

The undeclared cash was confiscated by the BOC.

The bureau did not disclose the name of the magazine, saying the agency’s investigation was still in progress to determine if the deliveries of the magazine were systematically being used to smuggle cash.

The sending of cash through mail or parcel is prohibited under Philippine postal and customs regulations.