BOC seizes smuggled SUVs, agri products in Cebu

Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña opens a container van that contains a high-end Sports Utility Vehicle that has been undervalued. Photo by Junjie Mendoza, Cebu Daily News

CEBU CITY—At least P150 million worth of smuggled items from three different countries were seized by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in Cebu City on Friday.

These included luxury vehicles, agricultural products and tiles placed inside 160 containers from China, United States and Japan.

“These are high-value smuggled items,” said Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña who was in Cebu to personally inspect the containers.

Among the seized shipment, 10 containers contained high-end Sports Utility Vehicles from Japan and the US. The agricultural products were placed in 70 containers while the tiles were in 80 containers.

The SUVs and tiles were undervalued while the agricultural products were misdeclared.

Lapeña said that based on the documents, the vehicles cost only P1.5 million each when these SUV were actually worth at least P4 million each.

“These are undervalued. But we are going to investigate further (to know if they have other violations),” Lapeña said. /jpv