58 smuggling cases filed this year — BoC – BusinessWorld Online
THE BUREAU OF CUSTOMS (BoC) has filed 58 smuggling cases before the Justice department this year, an official said during a Senate hearing on Wednesday.
“From the period of January to September, the BoC has filed 58 criminal cases in the Department of Justice. It is a total of 157 individuals or importers,” Customs Deputy Commissioner Arnel P. Alambra told senators.
He added that the goods smuggled were valued at P2.23 billion, with duties and taxes valued at P2.58 billion.
In a presentation to senators, the agency reported it has filed 32 cases for agricultural smuggling with valued at P2.19 billion, followed by 14 case for misdeclared foreign currency, four cases for illegal drugs with a street value of P340.96 million.
Other cases included four cases for fuel smuggling valued at P9.79 million, one case of vehicle smuggling valued at P1.58 million.
Smuggling cases also included the illegal shipping of medicine, and general merchandise valued at P30 million and P261 million, respectively. — Adrian H. Halili