THE national government seized more than P80 million worth of smuggled agricultural products in two separate operations recently.
In a statement, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said authorities seized P63 million worth of frozen meat products from Hong Kong and China at the Manila International Container Port that were misdeclared goods.
The DA identified the consignee of the shipments as Victory JM Enterprise.
The DA said the first two container vans were declared to carry frozen prawn balls but had frozen chicken paws, frozen boneless beef, Vietnamese suckling pig and bean curd skin instead.
The other two vans contained frozen beef cheek meat but were misdeclared to authorities as frozen prawn balls as well, according to the DA.
“An intelligence report received by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Inspectorate and Enforcement [DA I&E] prompted the deployment of a composite team from the Bureau of Plant Industry [BPI], Philippine Coast Guard [PCG] and Bureau of Customs [BOC] to conduct an inspection on November 23 and 28 respectively,” it said in a statement issued last Wednesday.
“The DA is currently preparing charges against the people responsible for violating the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016 [RA 10845] and Food Safety Act of 2013 [RA 10611],” it added.
Pork imports from both Hong Kong and China are currently banned by the national government due to African swine fever [ASF] concerns.
Port of Subic
IN a related development, the Customs Bureau disclosed that it was able to intercept P20.193 million worth of smuggled farm products in coordination with the DA and Port of Subic.
The BOC said Port of Subic District Collector Maritess T. Martin issued Alert Orders last December 1 against the shipments that originated from China by Veneta Consumer Goods Trading and Lalavy Aggregates Trading.
Government authorities conducted a physical examination on the inbound shipments last December 6 that revealed that the 1×40 container was misdeclared as foodstuffs but contained frozen carrots.
“Moreover, the 2×40 shipments consigned to Lalavy Aggregates Trading, declared as frozen lobster balls and crabsticks, were found to contain fresh red and white onions,” the BOC said.
The Customs bureau said the POS will issue warrants of seizure and detention against the shipments after the conduct of complete examination and inventory.
The consignee allegedly violated DA Administrative Order 18 (series of 2000), DA Circular 4 (series of 2016) and Section 1400 in relation to Section 1113 (f) of Republic Act 10863, otherwise known as the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA), according to the BOC.