Customs seizes smuggled onions in Valenzuela warehouse

Bureau of Customs (BOC) agents on Tuesday seized a cargo of smuggled onions worth P44.4 million in a Valenzuela City warehouse, the bureau said Wednesday. The agents were led by Customs Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence Danilo Lim. The cargo was consigned to Royal Halo Enterprises, which has an office in Binondo, Manila. The bureau said the onions — loaded in 10 40-foot container vans from China —were misdeclared as plastic cups and plasticware. The container vans got out of the Manila International Container Port after their Customs duties and fees ranging from P70,000 to P140,000 each were paid, Lim said. In the transaction, government lost some P18 million in revenues, Lim added. Smuggling incident succeeded because of collusion between industry players and corrupt Customs employees. “It is very evident that there is serious malice to defraud government of taxes and insult the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines arrogantly in this incident. Thus, all culprits in this case have to be brought to justice," Lim said. About 90 percent of the onions were already unloaded from the container vans when the BOC team raided the warehouse, said Jimmy Guban, assistant chief of the Risk Management Office. He also identified a Jason Ferrer as the licensed Customs broker who facilitated the release of the P44.4 million worth of misdeclared onions from the BOC. Lim said the bureau would file the appropriate charges against the consignee, broker, and BOC employees involved in the onion smuggling. — VS, GMA News