BOC seizes smuggled firecrackers, lumber

Customs Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has seized two container vans of smuggled firecrackers worth P10.6 million and eight container vans of lumber which recently arrived in two separate shipments.

Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon said the two 40-foot vans of firecrackers and pyrotechnic devices which were misdeclared as school supplies came from China.  The shipment was consigned to FEC Trading, owned by Francisco Edward Lopez Claudio of Makati City.

“This is usually the time of year when unscrupulous traders try to make a killing by flooding the market with illegally imported firecrackers and fireworks,” Biazon said.

Biazon said the firecracker shipment was presented at the BOC by FEC Trading’s customs broker Advenzur O. Ubas.

He said the shipment was seized by virtue of a November 25 warrant of seizure issued by BOC-Port of Manila District Collector Rogel Gatchalian for violation of the Tariffs and Customs Code of the Philippines.

On the other hand, the seized container vans of lumber which came from Davao City were smuggled into the Manila International Container Port (MICP).

“(They) were declared as plastic scraps, fresh banana, cacao beans, yellow cornstarch, scrap metal, copra cake, banana chips and scrap carton,” Deputy Commissioner for Enforcement Horacio P. Suansing Jr. said in a report to Biazon.

Suansing said further investigation was under way to determine the identity of the owners of the lumber shipment for the filing of appropriate charges in court.